Countervalue of Truth
by IcyLady
Summary: When Chains start to appear all over Great Britain, Pandora cannot let it slide. AU story
1. Inventing lineage

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling and Pandora Hearts to Jun Michozuki. This story is written purely for fun.**

**However, Cain Kruspe and the plot are mine so please respect that.**

**Author's note: The story is completely written right now so it will not be abandoned. There are spoilers for the Pandora Hearts manga. You have been warned. However, it's also an AU story, so there are plenty of facts that I twisted or ignored. It's also AU for Harry Potter from the beginning of the fifth book.**

**Remember: reviews are love ;)**

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**Prologue**

As the last of his guests arrived, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore looked at the wizards gathered in his office. Severus Snape and Minerva McGonagall were looking away from the gathering, having already heard the news and disagreeing with Dumbledore on the way to handle the situation. Remus Lupin seemed genuinely curious as to the reason of being called in the middle of summer to Hogwarts. Finally, Kingsley Shacklebolt, acting as the Ministry of Magic envoy, was settling down in the chair, having just arrived.

'Yesterday, I have received a curious letter from Duke Barma of the Hebrides,' he started slowly, looking at each and every of the other wizards. Remus and Kingsley twitched at the name, their eyes widening a fraction.

'But they-' Remus started, but Dumbledore didn't let him finish.

'They have isolated themselves completely from the outside world after some tragic events took place in the capital of their land, Sabrie,' he said calmly. 'Let me read you the letter and perhaps some of your questions will be already answered,' he added and lowered his gaze to the desk, where the aforementioned piece of paper was resting innocently.

_Professor Dumbledore,_

_My name is Duke Rufus Barma of the Four Great Dukedoms. I write to you on the behalf of the Four Great Dukes that rule this land, asking to speak to you as equals._

'He goes on a bit about how amazing the evolution of magical England is to them,' Dumbledore said, rather than reading the long and boring paragraphs of empty words. 'He expresses their regret that the Four Great Dukedoms have been excluded from that evolution and says that they would like to reinstate the connections between them and us,' he added with a small smile.

'Why did he not send it to the Ministry?' Kingsley asked immediately. Smile widening, the Headmaster of Hogwarts read the most relevant paragraph.

_After as many as a hundred years of estrangement, there are many things that will need to be overlooked and understood if we are to reach a mutual agreement. We will not hide that resentment for the opposite side still lingers in many of our citizens as we imagine it must linger in you. Rather than a tedious diplomatic arrangement, we suggest starting by a small scholar exchange._

_Children, we find, are the most open-minded of people. We have no appropriate magical education establishment and thus we ask you to accept the heirs of the Four Great Dukedoms as your students at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. If our children realise that your children can be friends and companions, they will advocate the case of reinstatement of connections. The same, we believe, will happen on your side._

_Furthermore, in order to help you understand us, we propose to send a teacher to your school, to teach your children about the Core of Magic._

Dumbledore looked up at the four wizards and cleared his throat before adding that what followed were technical details and they should first discuss the most important question: should they allow such a "scholar exchange" to occur?

'Don't they have knowledge of magic that we are lacking? What is this Core of Magic that he mentions?' Remus asked back, looking troubled at the news. McGonagall puffed angrily.

'Their isolation was not only their decision,' she reminded them all. 'We chose to not insist on keeping contacts because of the eruption of dark magic that shook the whole world. For all we know, the "Core of Magic" could be more evil than He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.'

'Could this be an act in order to get in contact with Voldemort?' Kingsley asked almost at the same moment. 'They couldn't have chosen a worse moment, that with the Deatheaters suddenly becoming more vicious,' he added. Snape didn't waste a second to point out that this, out of all the surprising facts, was the most suspicious coincident.

'I find it hard to believe that the proud Dukes really want something to do with us,' he hissed angrily. 'Do they really believe that we will fall for something as absurd as children advocating the case of reunion?'

'I find that concept quite appealing,' Dumbledore pointed out pleasantly, ignoring Snape's muttered curse. 'Children are the future of this world. This is true for Muggles as much as it is true for the Great Dukes and us, the wizarding society. It has always pained me that we are not united with all the magic wielders in Great Britain.'

'Of course, if we manage to make them into allies before Voldemort attempts to get them onto his side, if could only be beneficial,' Kingsley admitted albeit hesitantly. McGonagall repeated her warning about the dark magic and her doubts about the honesty of the Dukes.

'How many heirs are there?' Remus asked. 'Do they have any conditions for this exchange, which could be problematic?'

'They claim to want to send four children,' Dumbledore replied, knowing that he had already won. 'The four are not to be sorted into Houses, but rather to attend a special curriculum, as to allow them to learn most efficiently what they are lacking. All this could be accommodated without problems.'

'But the armed guards are a different question,' McGonagall countered and Dumbledore was forced to explain that the Great Dukes requested that the children come with two bodyguards who would have to be allowed full access to the castle, as well as the permission to carry arms. This information visibly cooled Remus' already small enthusiasm towards the idea.

'So seven strangers in total,' Kingsley summarised. 'Four of them children, three adults,' he added thoughtfully before commenting that the situation should be easy to control. After all, the Order was going to keep an eye on the school as well, so three potential enemies would be easy to eliminate.

'So it is decided then?' Dumbledore asked cheerfully. 'Shall I write to the Duke Barma that we are eagerly awaiting the new students? I am truly looking forward to learn about the Core of Magic and our estranged brothers and sisters.'

McGonagall scowled and said that some families were meant to stay estranged, while Remus offered him a small smile and a hesitant nod. Kingsley said that he would clear the Ministry end of the affair. Snape muttered that it was dangerous time to have guests, but if Dumbledore insisted then the lives of those children would be his responsibility.

**Ch. 1: Inventing lineage**

With some worry, Oz entered the Pandora main meeting room, noticing that everybody was already there, mostly sitting around the round table in the middle. They all looked up when he opened the door and he smiled at them all, taking in their expressions.

Worry: that was the predominant emotion in the room. Gilbert, sulking against the wall as it became his habit lately, was obviously worried. Oz could see it, even if Raven's face was almost entirely hidden from sight by his hair. Next to Gilbert stood Reim, looking like he wanted to be anywhere but in the room.

Oz glanced at the table, at his uncle Oscar, who was fiddling with some notes and Lady Cheryl who seemed to be sleeping, although from the frown on her face, Oz could guess that she merely had her eyes closed.

The worried looking Duke Barma was all but pacing the room and Oz wondered how Break could look so unconcerned. Break, in fact, seemed the only happy person in the room, but Oz had long since learned that the clown was hiding his worries behind the mask of cheerfulness so well faked that everybody believed it.

With a sigh, he sat next to Elliot, who was worriedly looking between the adults in the room, his eyes asking for explanation to this meeting. Oz would like an explanation as well, especially when he saw that, except for him and Alice, Elliot and Leo have been summoned.

The latter was sitting stiffly, looking at the table as though it held all the answers in the world. Oz knew, from Gilbert, that neither Leo nor Elliot got used to all the changes implied by their new situation. Oz supposed that Gilbert had hard time coming to terms with the truth as well. Himself, he took it quite hard but, with the help of his friends and family, he managed to acknowledge the truth and more or less ignore it.

Alice, much alike Break, seemed rather unconcerned and Oz had to smile at her annoyed look that said "this is delaying lunch". When Oz arrived, she took a seat next to him and crossed her arms before demanding an explanation in her characteristic, obnoxious manner.

Duke Barma stopped pacing and cleared his throat, effectively focusing the attention of the four teenagers on himself. It didn't escape Oz's attention that the adults in the room seemed to know the purpose of the meeting, because none of them showed any interest in what the Duke was going to say.

'For the sake of the gathered youth, I will start from the beginning,' he said with a pleasant tone, although his face was devoid of emotion. 'We have taken initiative to contact the wizarding society of Great Britain,' he stated. Leo's eyes widened in shock at the statement. Elliot nearly jumped out of his seat, demanding explanation.

'What is Great Britain?' asked Alice, her tone clearly suggesting that she didn't think it was edible, focusing Leo's and Elliot's incredulous looks on herself.

'It seems that we will have to educate Miss Alice in terms of geography,' Break laughed, before explaining that Great Britain was a country to which their island, called Hebrides by most, belonged. He produced a map and pointed out the island.

'Why would we want anything to do with them?' Elliot growled while Alice digested the answer and looked at the map in more detail. Oz was glad that Elliot asked. It was the first time he heard about a "wizarding society" and he was hoping that Break or somebody would explain why it was such a big deal to contact then. Not to mention that he wanted to know just what exactly "wizarding" stood for. There was no magic, was there? He supposed that he missed more than just ten years out of everybody's lives.

'We have reasons to believe that there are beginnings of Chain activity in some areas of Great Britain,' Duke Barma said seriously and all thoughts about wizards and fairy tales flew out of Oz's head. 'As you know, a hundred years ago, we have chosen to cut all ties to the rest of the wizarding world and deal with our own problems. Rather, I should say Jack has chosen, probably thinking that it was better for his plans,' he amended with a bitter tone. Oz looked away from him, forcibly removing memories of Jack from his head.

Why was it that everything turned around that despicable person and the tragic events that he had provoked? Was Oz's whole life going to revolve around those things? He didn't like the answer his brain provided and he was grateful when Lady Cheryl spoke up.

'Shortly after we took that decision, the newly formed Ministry of Magic of Great Britain proclaimed our use of magic improper and reinforced our isolation in order to prevent our knowledge from leaking out,' she continued the story. 'We don't call it "magic" of course, we never did,' she added. Oz suspected that it was for him and Alice, because they were the only ones looking lost in the conversation. 'We call it Chains and Abyss and while there have always been misunderstandings between our way and the others, until a hundred years ago, we got along well enough.'

'Did it change because of Sabrie?' Oz asked, feeling guilty. He was, after all, somewhat guilty of what happened then, even if he didn't particularly have a choice in that matter. Sadness flashed in Break's blind eye, while Lady Cheryl smiled at Oz encouragingly.

'Sabrie was just a show of how destructive our powers can be. We are not even sure if the other wizards realised what happened then,' Duke Barma said quietly. 'No, their attitude towards magic changed, as far as we can tell.'

'After all, we never managed to infiltrate their society until now,' Break butted in, earning a murderous glare from Duke Barma, which he couldn't have seen. He went about unwrapping a lollipop and biting off a piece. The sound of the cracking candy echoed in the momentarily silent room.

'And you want us to spy on them?' Alice asked, shocking most of the room's occupants. 'I hope you are not just saying this for the sake of talking,' she added with irritation, when Break chuckled.

'Not quite,' he said, leaning against the table as his lips twisted into a sweet smile. On him, however, it looked creepy more than anything else and, despite knowing the man as a friend, Oz shuddered.

'You said you attempted to contact the wizarding community,' Leo said, speaking for the first time since Oz entered the room. His voice was cold, as always since he discovered who he was. Oz wondered if it was the knowledge itself or whether Leo had changed. He didn't have the chance to ask because everybody made sure that he didn't get to spend too much time with the Head of Baskervilles, lest something happened. This really was ludicrous, since he, Leo and Elliot have decided to change the way history went. Right?

'Indeed,' Duke Barma said, clearing his throat. 'We have suggested that we want to reinstate our connections with them, which of course is not true, but we cannot afford to let them know about Chains.'

'They don't know anything about Chains?' Oz asked in surprise. Even though, when he was fourteen, he didn't know much himself, now it seemed like the whole world revolved around Chains and Abyss. Finding out that somebody had no knowledge about something that was his daily life was weird.

'No,' Uncle Oscar said firmly. 'And that is the way it's supposed to stay. That's why we need to send people in and remove the Chains that might be there,' he added. For once he seemed serious and concerned.

'But if they think our, uh, magic is inappropriate then why would they want to have anything to do with us?' Leo asked, pointing out the obvious flaw in the plan. Much to Oz's surprise, the expression on Duke Barma's face mirrored that of Break's. It was a rather frightful sight, those two men who hated each other smiling like that.

'We appealed to the right person,' the Duke said smoothly. 'The Headmaster of the Britain's wizarding school, who is supposed to be known for his desire to reunite the wizards,' he added.

'And we gave him the right bait,' Break added, sounding delighted. Uncle Oscar scowled, saying that he shouldn't call "them" bait.

'And the bait is?' Oz asked with hesitation, although he had a fair idea already, since they were talking about a Headmaster of a school. He realised that there were four potential students in the room and his eyes widened.

'You of course,' Break laughed out. 'The heirs of the Four Great Dukedoms who are delightful and innocent and open-minded, as children should be,' he added, continuing to laugh. Oz glanced at Alice, Elliot and Leo and wondered how in the world they would ever manage to pass off as innocent and open-minded, never mind delightful.

'We are not all-' Elliot started, but he wasn't allowed to finish.

'There are things that those wizards don't need to know about us and we certainly cannot let them get a hint of the power the Baskervilles possess,' Duke Barma said seriously. 'We have chosen you four for one reason: you can all protect yourself should need arise. The wizards outside the Great Dukedoms have no idea about the lineage of our families and thus it should not be difficult to fool them.'

'We have enlisted you to their school as Elliot Nightray, Leo Barma, Oz Vessalius and Alice Rainsworth,' Break informed them cheerfully. 'You should practice your new names so that you don't slip. Myself and Raven will be accompanying you as bodyguards,' he added almost as an afterthought, pointing at himself and Gilbert, who was simply observing the conversation with crossed arms. Oz grinned at his childhood friend.

'Your only task is to stay in the school and learn as much as you can about the wizarding community,' Lady Cheryl said with a smile. 'You may also have to make up alibies for Hatter and Raven if they are away dealing with the Chains. With any luck, your mission will be completed during the school year and you will not have to return to the school.'

'So we have to stay there a whole year?' Elliot asked, visibly not liking the idea. 'How can we leave this place for a whole year?'

'Things will be taken care of in your absence and you will remain in close contact with the person governing the family in your name,' Lady Cheryl replied, reminding Oz that Elliot was no longer the heir to the Dukedom, but an actual Duke, since his father had been murdered by the head hunter, or rather Vincent Nightray. He shuddered at the memory.

'Lady Sharon will keep an eye on us using Eques and also, the wizards use owls as communication method, so Owl will be able to carry messages without much suspicion,' Break commented. 'Like that we don't lose any of the fun.'

'So the six of us leave when?' Leo asked.

'Reim will also join you, as a teacher,' Oscar informed them. Oz turned to the Pandora officer right in time to see him blush. 'He will teach the wizarding children "our magic" and pose as the biggest threat out of your group, so that the wizards focus on him, leaving Hatter and Raven to do their work undisturbed.'


	2. Exchange students

**Ch. 2: Exchange students**

Entering the Great Hall, Harry noticed that the Gryffindor table was longer and that the very end, the closest to the teacher's table, was occupied by four students. He exchanged surprised glances with Ron, who also noticed the four people, sitting almost unnaturally straight and looking distinctively uncomfortable.

Most of the students must have noticed the same, because they hushed upon entering the Great Hall and only whispers hissed in the huge room.

'They must be the exchange students,' Hermione whispered as they took their own places at the table.

'Exchange students?' Ron asked, making Hermione roll her eyes and ask if he didn't even read the letter from school. Harry blinked at her, remembering that the letter did mention something about exchange students from the Four Great Dukedoms. He dismissed that paragraph as Dumbledore's typical silliness. After all, who called their country of city "Four Great Dukedoms"? However, now that he looked at the four teenagers, he realised that somebody did and that Dumbledore hasn't been joking.

'They picked a terrible time to visit,' Ron muttered and Harry was immediately reminded about the horror of the previous year and Cedric's death. He swallowed nervously, grateful for the exchange students who took most of the attention away from him.

'I read a bit about this "Four Great Dukedoms",' Hermione whispered. 'It seems that they are four wizarding families who decided to stop all contact with the rest of the wizarding community a hundred years ago. I wonder why they would want to send their kids to school now of all the times.'

'Aren't they supposed to be dark wizards?' Ron asked. Hermione scolded him for repeating fairy tales. 'Wasn't it you who said that there's a grain of truth in every fairy tale?' Ron countered with a grin, surprising Hermione. Harry snickered and asked to be told the fairy tales about the Four Great Dukedoms, since he hasn't heard any. However, before Ron could tell him, the Sorting started and then the Headmaster stood up to deliver his speech.

'Welcome back, my dear students and teachers, welcome for the first time the new students and new teachers. It's wonderful to see you all here,' he said. 'I have the pleasure to introduce you your new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Cain Kruspe, who has kindly agreed to fill in for one year, until we find a permanent teacher.'

'It's not like there has been a permanent teacher previously,' Ron muttered, earning a couple of nods from the students who heard him. Whispers in the Hall suggested that more people commented on the teacher.

'Furthermore, this year for the first time in a long time, a new obligatory subject is introduced,' the Headmaster announced, creating a stunned silence. Harry stared in shock, because nothing in their letter said anything about getting more books. 'As an experiment in cooperation with the Four Great Dukedoms, I would like to welcome Professor Reim Lunettes, who will be teaching you about the Core of Magic.'

'The Core of Magic?' Harry repeated, looking at Hermione questioningly. However, for the first time, it seemed like the Gryffindor know-it-all did not know something. She said that she had never heard about the Core of Magic and wondered why they were not told to buy books on the subject. She looked distinctly unhappy that she has not been able to prepare in advance.

'Together with Professor Lunettes, four students have arrived from the Four Great Dukedoms,' Dumbledore continued, gesturing towards the four strangers at the Gryffindor table. 'They will follow a special curriculum, since their education so far has not been the same. They will not be Sorted into any of the Houses, but I would like you all to welcome them and ensure that they enjoy their stay at Hogwarts.'

'If they don't belong to any of the Houses, how will they be punished if they do something wrong?' Ron asked, looking at the four sourly.

'I think that, as ambassadors of their country, they will behave,' Hermione pointed out immediately, while Dumbledore talked about the benefits of scholar exchange and the unrivalled opportunity to learn something new that opened to both sides.

'Do you think they will join our dormitory, since they have joined our table?' Harry asked as the thought occurred to him. Hermione and Ron looked at him in momentary surprise, before Ron shrugged and Hermione cast another careful look at the group of four exchange students, who were still sitting rather stiffly at the table.

'It would make sense, no? Otherwise they will never meet anybody,' she muttered. 'But wouldn't Dumbledore say something about it in that case?' she asked, because the Headmaster finished talking about the guests and went on about how the Forbidden Forest was out of bounds.

'Well then,' Dumbledore paused. 'The only thing left to say is: enjoy the feast!' he said and the food appeared on the tables. Harry didn't miss how the exchange students jumped on their seats, just like the first-years. He watched how the only girl out of the four immediately reached out for the chicken, while the three boys eyed the food with some suspicion.

Shrugging, he focused on his friends and the conversations around him. Neville has been to Europe for a trip and was talking about the new plants he's seen, while Ginny was bragging to another girl how she managed to transfigure a dress. Harry grinned: it felt good to be back in Hogwarts.

})i({

Sitting in the corner of the common room, on the evening of the first day of classes, Harry realised that he hasn't seen the exchange students at all during the day. Not only did they not attend the classes with them, which was understandable, since they couldn't quite jump into fifth year, but also they did not show up for meals in the Great Hall.

'Say, do you think that those exchange students have a separate dining room?' he asked Ron and Hermione, who were sitting next to him. However, before either of them managed to say anything, a voice Harry didn't recognise answered his question.

'We actually do, sort of,' it said and Harry nearly jumped out of his skin in surprise. The owner of the voice, a blond-haired boy that looked to be his age, laughed. 'I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you so badly. We were wondering if we could join you,' he added, a smile still on his face and in his brilliantly green eyes. Harry noticed that the other three were standing behind him, looking less welcoming.

'Sure,' Harry replied when the shock of being approached by the exchange students passed. After all, he figured, they probably wanted to get to know the "famous Harry Potter", he reasoned with irony.

'My name is Oz Vessalius,' the blond said, then turned to his companions. 'This is Alice Rainsworth,' he introduced the dark haired girl who had the weirdest eye colour ever: violet. She looked at Harry, Ron and Hermione with some interest, but did not acknowledge being introduced. 'This is Leo Barma,' Oz pointed to black haired boy with dark, blue eyes, who nodded at them with a somewhat absent smile. 'And this is Elliot Nightray,' Oz pointed to the last and tallest of them all, blond haired boy with blue eyes, who nodded rather stiffly.

'I'm Harry Potter,' Harry said, slightly surprised when the exchange students showed no sign of recognition. 'Those are Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley,' he added pointing to his friends.

'It's pleasure to meet you,' Hermione commented as the four settled down. 'It was a surprise to find out that there would be exchange students joining us this year,' she added. Unwillingly, Harry thought back to the previous year, when the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang were visiting.

'It was kind of a surprise for us as well,' Oz replied. 'I mean, we only found out in the summer that we would be coming here,' he explained. Was he going to be the only one who will talk?

'So you guys really have a dining room?' Ron asked. 'And how did you get into the common room anyway, if you're not in the Gryffindor House?'

'Ronald!' Hermione hissed because Ron's questions and tone could easily be mistaken for unfriendly. However, Oz only grinned and explained that their dormitory was, in a way, a part of the Gryffindor tower and, while they had their own entrance, they could go to the common room from their own, little common area.

'We didn't really know how the students here would be towards us, since we have been told that the interactions between the wizarding community and the Dukedoms have never been easy,' Oz explained at Ron's incredulous look. 'So we have asked to have the possibility to eat separately, just in case, since we have to stay here for the whole year.'

'Normally we just have to deal with our differences,' Ron muttered, unhappy. Hermione looked as though she was going to have a heart attack and Harry wondered what it was that she had read about their guests. He had to admit that the special treatment was annoying when he had to endure the unfriendliness of the students just the previous year. This year didn't seem like it would be better, with all the talking of how he was lying about Voldemort's return.

'So are you all the same age?' Harry asked, mainly to change the topic. Oz told him that he and Leo were fifteen, Elliot was sixteen and Alice thirteen and asked about their age. Once he got an answer, he asked about the school and subjects.

'Didn't you do anything yet?' Hermione asked at the last question.

'We only had an introduction to Charms today and tomorrow we're going to have an introduction to Potions,' Oz replied promptly. 'The Headmaster decided that we better do a subject a day in the beginning and like that the teachers would be able to decide with which year we should have a certain lesson or if we should even follow a special course in some cases.'

'So you didn't study any of those things yet?' Harry asked with some surprise. Oz glanced at his friends before saying that their usage of magic was much different from that taught in the school.

'Will we learn about it from Professor Lunettes?' Hermione asked eagerly.

'Professor Lunettes? Uh, yeah, exactly,' Oz replied. 'He's going to give you an introduction to the theory of magic that is what we base our knowledge on,' he added.

'This is absolutely fascinating,' Hermione continued the topic with a gleam in her eyes. 'I couldn't find a single mention of the Core of Magic in any of the books in the library. Alright, in any of the books that I checked today,' she amended with an exasperated expression. Oz giggled a bit and apologised.

'So what do you guys think about Potions?' he asked. 'The Charms today were rather pleasant and we're hoping that all the teachers are so nice.'

'Are all the teachers so small?' Alice asked bluntly, surprising Harry as much by her tone as by the fact that she actually spoke up. He was starting to wonder if Oz forced the other three to socialise, because they definitely didn't seem like they were enjoying themselves.

'No, it's just Flitwick,' Ron told her with a laugh, before announcing that Snape, the Potions professor, was probably the most disagreeable person on the whole planet and that he felt sorry for them to have to spend the whole day with him.

'He cannot be worse than Hatter,' Alice muttered, earning a giggle from Oz and questioning glances from Harry, Ron and Hermione.

'If we're on the topic of the Hatter,' Elliot spoke up, surprising everybody. 'We better go back before Raven complains about curfew,' he added, putting stress on "Raven" for some bizarre reason. Not that "Hatter" and "Raven" were not bizarre subjects for a phrase to start with.

'You're just sour that Raven gets to order you around,' Alice growled and scowled when Elliot asked her if she wasn't sour for the same reason.

'Who is Raven?' Harry asked, unable to stop himself. Elliot and Alice looked as though they had forgotten that they were not alone and regretted talking. Leo rolled his eyes at them.

'Raven and Hatter are our, uh, sort of bodyguards,' Oz said hesitantly. 'They take their job very seriously also, or at least Raven does.'

'And Hatter is simply mad?' Hermione asked with a laugh. Harry laughed as well at the reference to a fairy tale, but he realised that the four students stiffened at the question, before Oz regained his composure and grinned.

'Mad Hatter indeed,' he said with a laugh that sounded somewhat artificial. 'And we really should go,' he added. The other three got up immediately.

'See you tomorrow?' Harry ventured, undaunted by the attitude of the exchange students. He was sure that Dumbledore put them in Gryffindor for a reason and he wasn't going to disappoint the Headmaster by being unwelcoming.

'See you tomorrow,' Oz answered with a grin, while the other three turned around and left with a mere "good night". Oz winced.

'I'm overwhelmed by the enthusiasm,' Ron muttered, earning a glare from Hermione and a sad smile from Oz.

'Don't hold it against them. Please understand, this is a difficult situation for us,' he said seriously. 'Not only as the heirs of the Four Great Dukedoms, but also as the ambassadors of our land, there is a lot of pressure that rests on our shoulders in relation to this, eh, scholar exchange,' he explained. Harry immediately felt sorry for him, disregarding the part about those four being the future rulers of their land for the moment.

'We hope that you will find time to enjoy this exchange,' Hermione assured Oz, who welcomed her statement with a nod and a smile. Harry nodded eagerly, adding that he was happy they ended up in Gryffindor, so that they could get to know them better.

'We do hope to enjoy it as well,' Oz assured them. 'After all, it's not often that we get away from most of the guards and all the servants, not to mention our parents,' he laughed and left, following the other three.


	3. Tea-time

**Ch. 3: Tea-time**

The door between the Gryffindor common area and their private, common area was next to the doors to the girls' and boys' dormitories for the regular Gryffindor students. As soon as Oz closed it behind him the noise died and he sighed in relief. He was definitely not used to be around of the sheer number of kids that resided in the Gryffindor tower. He was also not used to minding so closely what he was saying.

During the two weeks that they had between finding out that they were going to the wizarding school and the actual trip, they had spent all their time preparing. "My name is Leo Bask-, uh, Barma," and "Alice you forgot your family name" were commonplace for a couple of days. They also learned all that the Four Great Dukedoms knew about the wizarding society and what Reim would teach to the Hogwarts' students. Above all, however, they learned to not mention certain topics.

Quiet conversation resumed after a moment of silence, together with clicking of spoons against the porcelain cups and plates and Oz looked at his fellow spies, gathered around the round table and enjoying sweets and tea. He grinned, imagining the faces of their new "friends" if they saw the curfew that Raven apparently imposed.

'If you don't hurry, we're going to eat all the cookies,' Break announced and Oz knew this to not be an idle threat. It was already surprising that there were any cookies left, so he made his way to the table, snatching a cookie almost from under Break's fingers, just to see him scowl. Next time he would have to make sure to not touch Break's extended fingers in the slightest and see if the Hatter would still realise what happened, Oz decided, biting into the cookie, discovering it delicious.

'I'm not made to be a spy,' he announced, sitting down.

'I'm sure you're going to do a good job,' Gilbert replied almost automatically and Oz smiled at him before accepting a cup of tea in the silence that followed Gilbert's statement.

'I'm not sure if Elliot will survive another meeting with the rude red-head,' Leo pointed out with a somewhat mischievous grin that was completely uncharacteristic for somebody who was the new Glen Baskerville. He seemed to be relaxing a bit. Elliot elbowed him in reply and reached out for a cookie before all the sweets could be consumed by Break.

'Did you manage to approach the students?' Reim asked, probably deciding to at least start seriously, before the whole discussion turned into a farce. Oz nodded, too busy eating the delicious cookie to answer properly.

'And none other than Harry The-Boy-Who-Lived Potter,' Elliot muttered. 'I cannot understand how the apparent saviour of the wizarding community can be so unguarded and informal,' he added, sounding thoroughly unimpressed by meeting such an important person. 'I can't believe that Dumbledore put us in the same House as his most precious asset, when there's obviously no protection.'

'This is the most worrying,' Gilbert agreed quietly. 'We went through the common room yesterday during the feast and found no protective spells whatsoever. In fact, it seems that there's nothing within the castle and they entirely rely on what they call "wards" around the grounds,' he added.

Prior to their departure, Duke Barma and Lady Cheryl explained a lot about "magic", among others, how to feel the spells and identify them from the feeling. Apparently, the Abyss and magic originated from the same kind of energy source and thus it was possible to use both if one mastered how to use one. Since any contractor fell into the category of "mastering Abyss", even if it was more the Abyss mastering the contractor, they were all good candidates to master the magic. Consequently, they could pretend to be wizards.

'But at least I didn't smell any Chains,' Alice interjected between two mouthfuls of cookies. Their two "bodyguards" agreed that the school seemed to be clear from this kind of danger and thus rather safe to stay in. At least for the moment because, since they encountered no trouble in getting inside, it should be possible for a Chain to penetrate the wards.

'So from tomorrow on, you guys are starting your escapades around Britain?' Leo asked, looking straight at Gilbert and Break. The latter grinned.

'We'll wait for a moment with that,' he said. 'I heard some interesting rumours today about the Potions' teacher and we need to figure them out before we leave you poor, little, innocent children unprotected.'

'It's not like we are unprotected,' Oz protested, ignoring Break's irony. 'Between Humpty Dumpty, Jabberwock and the B-rabbit,' he trailed off and swallowed, pushing away the thoughts about the last of the Chains. Gilbert and Break looked at him somewhat worriedly, while Elliot looked away. Oz felt a sting of pain at the latter's reaction.

'You are not to use the Chains in the school,' Reim reminded them sharply. 'Don't forget that we are here to stop the knowledge about the Chains, not spread it,' he added in a tone of a teacher.

'Besides, we will wait a while to make sure that we all fit into the descriptions we want those wizards to have of us,' Gilbert added before Elliot could complain about being lectured like he was a kid. 'As soon as the teachers, and those weird people that come to patrol the school at night, pay me and Break no attention work will start for real.'

'Weird people that come to patrol the school at night?' Elliot repeated with a frown.

'The Order of the Phoenix,' Reim replied smoothly. 'I heard about them from the discussions in the teacher's room. They seem to be some secret organisation founded to fight with that Voldemort guy that we read about in the journal,' he explained, before adding that he was probably not supposed to hear any of those and that he would keep his ears on more interesting details that the Headmaster of Hogwarts failed to mention in his letters.

'It would have been good to know that they're at war, prior to our arrival,' Gilbert grumbled under his breath. Oz agreed with him wholeheartedly, even if they still couldn't be sure whether the wizards were in fact at war. The journal insisted that it was just the old man's imagination and Potter's cry for attention.

'Better tell us about Harry Potter,' Break suggested with his trademark, creepy smile. 'Is he anything like the Daily Prophet makes him out to be?' he asked. Ever since their arrival in the castle, some five days prior to the beginning of the school yeah, he has been making either Gilbert or Reim read the whole journal to him, commenting on the news so much that the whole procedure took more than an hour each morning. Needless to say that it annoyed both Gilbert and Reim.

'He is nothing like a hero,' Leo said before anybody else managed to open their mouths. Oz took a sip of the tea, wondering what he thought about the other boy. He supposed that Harry could be a really nice friend. 'He relies on his friends way too much and he doesn't think he deserves the fame that is bestowed upon him,' Leo continued in a somewhat cold tone.

'You could tell all that just from this pointless conversation that we had?' Alice demanded with irritation. 'We didn't ask any important question, only about some stupid professor or age!'

'We cannot outright ask important questions,' Oz reminded her calmly. 'That is the point of espionage. He is not supposed to realise that we are getting information out of him.'

'I would gladly not get any information out of him, I don't think he has any,' Elliot commented in a tone similar to Alice's. 'I don't understand how it is useful to talk with kids about this place because kids cannot know anything useful.'

'Really, Elliot,' Break laughed. 'Don't you think that kids know things that they don't realise are important? Don't you think that they will answer without thinking simply because nobody told them that information can be used against them?' he asked. Oz noted the bitter expression on Gilbert's face and realised that he still hadn't asked his childhood friend about what happened during the ten years that he was in the Abyss. Somehow there was always something more important to do, like saving Break and Sharon from the Baskervilles or hunting down Alice's memories.

'In any case, we have been invited to join Harry and his friends tomorrow and I think they are as good a starting point as anybody else,' Oz pointed out. He didn't want to admit that he quite liked the company of other students, if only because he couldn't see any ulterior motives that they could have in getting close to him. After all, he wasn't anybody important to them.

'Try also to find out what others think about Gryffindors, maybe it will shed some light as to why we have been placed in this House and not another,' Reim suggested. 'From the conversations with the teachers, I would have thought that Ravenclaw is more appropriate since the students there are the smartest.'

'Maybe he wants to show us that this place is fun?' Elliot suggested. 'After all, aren't we innocent children?' he added, irony wrapped around the words tightly. They have all lost their innocence already, whether it was because of their family being murdered or fate forcing them to assume positions that were above their strength.

'Innocent children should be in bed by now,' Break laughed, while Gilbert glanced at the clock and reminded them that they had to join the Potions' teacher in the dungeons right after breakfast. It was their bodyguards' not-so-subtle way of telling them that they should go to sleep, Oz assumed. He supposed that Reim, Gilbert and Break would spend at least another hour planning and plotting.

'At least Potions is something apparently done without a wand,' Leo commented, finishing his tea. They all winced at the memory of the complete fiasco that was their visit at the wandmaker's shop, just two days after their arrival at Hogwarts. 'This thing with wands will be very problematic in the future,' he added.

'I quite liked the shock on Flitwick's face when we told him that we wanted to try going straight to wandless magic though,' Oz laughed, remembering the shock of their professor when they had actually managed to perform a simple levitation spell. Elliot smirked with satisfaction.

'Be careful around the Potions' professor though,' Break warned them as all four exchange students got up from the table. 'He seems to have some affiliation to the dark side of this conflict,' he added, ignoring Leo's mutter about how they were the dark side for the wizards in the school anyway.


	4. Wandless magic

**Ch. 4: Wandless magic**

After the exchange students left the Gryffindor common room Hermione wasted no time to tell Harry and Ron all about her findings in the library, which was not much, surprisingly enough.

The Four Great Dukedoms was a sort of country within country, encompassing the magical community living on Hebrides. They ceased all contact with the wizarding community shortly after some obscure tragedy that occurred in the capital of their land. Soon after, the Ministry of Magic declared their use of magic dark arts and thus reinforced the self-imposed isolation. The situation remained unchanged for a hundred years and there were no indications in the library as to why it should have changed now. According to all Hermione could find both the Ministry of Magic and the Dukedoms were happy with having absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with each other.

Ron immediately assumed that the exchange students from the Great Dukedoms had evil intentions, if their magic was dark. It took Hermione reminding him about the Ministry's position towards Harry to relent and say that maybe the Ministry propaganda was not always true. Harry, for one, couldn't quite imagine Oz being evil or wishing to hurt anybody and Ron's idea that he came to Hogwarts to join Voldemort seemed ludicrous. The other three, now that was a different question, but maybe they were just shy and dealt with their shyness by trying to appear aloof. Besides, just because somebody wasn't immediately friendly to him didn't mean that the person was bad, right?

According to Hermione's meagre library findings, he four exchange students, now attending Hogwarts, were descendants and heirs of the four families that ruled the Four Great Dukedoms: Barma, Nightray, Rainsworth and Vessalius. The politics were as vague as they seemed complicated, with the Duke families forming some sort of organisation whose aim was not entirely clear from the records Hermione could find. She hasn't been able to find much about the four families themselves either. The most recent mention, of any of the four, in the Pure Blood Peerage was that the last descendant of the Phantomhive family married into the Nightrays just a month before her father died in unexplained circumstances and less than half a year before the mysterious tragedy and the rupture of contacts. The young bride and her mother left London for Hebrides, shortly after Earl Phantomhive's passing, and were never heard of again.

All this mystery around the students tickled Harry's curiosity. Exchanging wild theories with Ron, he could almost forget that Voldemort was out there, gathering his strength and searching for allies. That is, he could forget about it until Ron suggested yet again that maybe the Duke families wanted to join the nemesis of the wizarding community. Harry wasn't sure if sending children into potential danger was really the way to go about it. He and Hermione wondered why the Dukes even risked sending their children to boarding school in such dangerous times. He thought that maybe they hoped their children to be safe until Oz dispelled those thoughts, shocking Harry, Ron and Hermione.

'Ah, see, we didn't know anything about this He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named,' Oz said simply when Harry finally gave in and asked about the security issues on the seventh evening that the exchange students spent with him and his friends.

'Voldemort,' he corrected automatically, even as the information sank in.

'Even now we are not exactly sure what to think about this situation, because the Daily Prophet claims firmly that this Voldemort guy is dead,' Oz added, repeating the name without the slightest hesitation. After five years of people flinching every time he said it, Harry found it somewhat refreshing.

'So are you at war?' Elliot asked coldly. As time went, the other three exchange students started to talk with the Gryffindors. Harry learnt that both Elliot and Alice were rather straightforward, although each in their own way, while Leo preferred to avoid direct confrontation.

'I suppose you could say that,' Hermione replied carefully and Harry was not surprised when Alice pointed out that it wasn't very smart to not know whether or not they were at war.

'Voldemort is alive,' Harry said firmly. 'I saw him rise again and I fought with him on that night,' he added, perhaps more harsh than the situation called for. 'The Ministry doesn't believe me though and they prefer to find weak excuses when the Deatheaters murder yet another person.'

'Deatheaters are the followers of Voldemort, right?' Leo asked, looking up at Harry. He seemed satisfied with Harry's nod and went back to scribbling something in his notebook. 'Aren't they getting more violent?' he asked almost as an afterthought. Harry fought to keep the reports of the gruesome murders, which he had overheard from the members of the Order patrolling the corridors at night, out of his head.

'They are getting worse and worse,' he whispered. He couldn't sleep this year and more often than not, he would go out under his Invisibility Cloak, walking the corridors until he was so tired he could fall asleep easily. 'Lupin was talking with McGonagall last night about an attack on a Muggle-born couple. They have just finished school last year and were going to get married,' he muttered.

'Were going to?' Oz repeated cautiously.

'They were found in their flat, decapitated, two nights ago,' Harry replied, not missing how Elliot paled at his statement. This was definitely something to investigate, he thought.

'Isn't it weird that the Deatheaters are using Muggle ways suddenly?' Ron asked, making Harry nod. 'Dad said that if it wasn't for the Dark Mark, they wouldn't even think it was them.'

'So, those Deatheaters,' Oz started slowly. 'How would they kill their victims otherwise?' he asked. Harry blinked and asked if they really have never heard of the killing curse before.

'Killing curse?' Leo repeated in a weird tone. If Harry didn't know better, he would have said that it was almost mocking. 'We don't have such a thing as the killing curse, or at least it is not taught to the children of our age,' he added. Remembering who it was, that had taught them about the curse, Harry wondered if maybe it wasn't supposed to be taught to them either.

He ended up describing what Deatheaters used to do until sometime in the middle of July and how they suddenly started killing people by piercing their bodies with sharp objects or shattering their skulls against the walls. Ron and Hermione, who have already heard those stories before, looked uncomfortable. The other four shared so many worried looks that Harry lost count.

'And you say this is happening all over Britain?' Elliot asked after a moment of silence.

'Yeah,' Harry replied with a nod. He saw the exchange students share another worried glance and wondered if they were going to go back to their place now. He knew, of course, that Hogwarts was perfectly safe as long as Dumbledore was there, but how could they know?

'By the way, that Lupin person is not a teacher in the school, is he?' Oz asked in a casual kind of tone. 'I don't think I remember his name and we already met all the teachers I think,' he added. Hermione glared at Harry and he knew he shouldn't have let it slip that there has been a stranger in the castle.

'I thought that nobody is allowed into the castle,' Alice exclaimed, sounding alarmed. Before he realised what he was doing, Harry explained all he knew about the Order of the Phoenix and the role they had played in the previous wizarding war. Only when Hermione kicked him under the table, did he shut up but thankfully the only reaction that his words got from the exchange students was a relieved "so you are fighting that guy".

'All my family is,' Ron interjected proudly, basking in Oz's bright smile and reassurance that it was a sign of a brave and noble family. 'Once I'm done with school I'll join them as well and so will Harry and Hermione,' Ron added.

'Won't the war be over by then?' Elliot asked doubtfully. 'Are they planning to be at war for two more years?'

'It's hardly planning with You-Know-Who,' Ron replied heatedly, angry as though Elliot insulted his family. 'For all we know it could only be Harry who can-'

'Ron,' Hermione stopped him. 'I think I'm going to practice the spells for Charms now,' she added. 'We've talked about those sad things long enough. If we continue they will think it's really horrible here.'

'What did you learn?' Oz asked immediately, either genuinely happy to change the topic or really enthusiastic about Charms. 'Can you show us? We only learned little and it's very hard to do it without wands, but I'm sure Leo will manage.'

'Oz,' Leo called the name out wearily.

'Without wands?' Hermione repeated, being the first one to realise what Oz has said. 'Why would you do it without wands?' Oz looked sheepish, while Elliot and Leo glared at him. Alice looked bored. She seemed to be unperturbed by most of the things that happened, Harry realised.

'Ah, wands and we don't mix well apparently,' Oz explained slowly. 'Nobody uses wands back at home so we only found out about them when we arrived here and then we thought that we should get some.'

'Long story short, it's easier to do wandless magic than try and find a wand that will fit,' Elliot helped his fellow student out. It seemed to be a touchy subject, so Harry hoped that Hermione would drop it. He already wondered if there was a way to spy a bit on the exchange students and find out what it was that they weren't saying.

'Right,' Hermione muttered, sounding unconvinced. 'We were doing animation charms since the beginning of this year,' she said and explained how it should be possible to move an object just by thinking about motion. She presented the easiest spell on a small piece of rope that she had apparently found somewhere to practice on.

'This is amazing,' Alice exclaimed when the rope twisted into a spiral and then twirled around. Hermione grinned and the rope tied itself into a bow and landed in front of Alice, who took it and shook it, as if to make it move again.

'There are more complicated ones that I could try to show you if Harry still has his dragon figurine,' Hermione pointed out, so Harry accioed the dragon from the dormitory, producing gasps from the four exchange students.

'I want to learn that spell,' Oz exclaimed. 'Like that I never have to worry about snatching cookies from Hatter,' he added, stumbling a bit over the name. Harry remembered that Hatter was the bodyguard and wondered how cookies fit into the picture. He hasn't yet seen the two bodyguards, but he imagined them to look a bit like Mad Eyed Moody.

They spent the next half an hour teaching Accio to the other four, by which time Leo managed it without the slightest problem, Elliot and Oz somewhat managed and Alice only once succeeded in pulling the rope towards her.

'This is unfair,' she pouted. 'Why can you guys all do that and I can't? Even Elliot can and he is-'

'Better at focusing on one thing,' Leo interjected smoothly. Harry wondered what it was that Alice was going to say. He didn't miss the somewhat panicked looks of the three boys before Leo stopped Alice. 'It's not our fault that you have the attention span of a fruit fly,' Leo added mockingly, earning a punch from the girl.

'I'm sure you'll learn,' Hermione spoke before anybody could. 'Ron also took ages to master just about any spell and look, he's quite alright with them now,' she added, ignoring Ron's outraged expression. To cheer Alice up, she muttered a spell and pointed her wand at the previously forgotten figurine of Hungarian Horntail. Instantly, the dragon flapped its wings and roared, much to Alice's delight.

'Besides, everybody's good in their own thing,' Harry amended when the dragon took flight from the table. He wasn't sure if any of the exchange students heard him, because they all looked at the figurine, mesmerised.

'You're such a show-off, Hermione,' Ron commented with a sour expression, when the dragon landed. Leo asked Hermione for the spell and moments later the dragon flew onto his outstretched hand. Alice, obviously forgetting her irritation, petted the figurine with one finger.

'That is extremely impressive,' Hermione said, looking at Leo with wide eyes. The dark-haired boy smiled slightly and admitted that it was horribly exhausting and he could probably use loads of practice to channel the magic properly.

'Still,' Harry muttered, watching the dragon hop onto Alice's hand. Oz petted the figurine and said something that Harry couldn't hear. It occurred to him that maybe they have forgotten they have an audience, because suddenly they were really behaving like children, squealing when the dragon roared.

'You should teach Raven to do that and we'll never have to be bothered by those two again,' Elliot commented dryly, earning a punch from Alice and a laugh from Oz. Leo replied in a hushed tone, making all three snicker in a somewhat evil way. Harry was reminded of the Weasley twins.

'Aren't you afraid of your curfew today, by the way?' Ron asked, probably having heard the comment about Raven. Harry realised that it was indeed much later than they usually parted. Like a burst soap bubble, the careless mood was gone and Oz returned to his polite but somewhat guarded persona. Alice straightened and Leo sent the dragon back to the table, looking ready to fall over from fatigue.

'Afraid is the wrong word, red-head,' Elliot replied with some hostility, reverting to his persona from their first meeting, as he often did when he talked with Ron. It was obvious that those two would never become best friends.

'But we should be going,' Leo pointed out calmingly. He usually did that when Elliot seemed to be close to starting an argument and Harry wondered if he should be doing the same for Ron sometimes.


	5. Defence against the Dark Arts

**Ch. 5: Defence against the Dark Arts**

Waiting for the first class that they were supposed to have with regular Hogwarts' students, Oz had to admit that he was worried. Would they manage the class? Would they not betray any secrets? How were the Slytherin students?

The last question was answered soon enough, when the Slytherin fifth year students joined Oz, Alice, Leo and Elliot in front of the Defence against the Dark Arts classroom. The students hushed when they saw them and then a white haired boy stepped forward, getting all the attention.

'So you are the elusive exchange students from the Four Great Dukedoms,' the blond said, eyeing them up. Oz called up a friendly smile automatically. He wanted to play the role of a bit silly person that is easily disregarded, happy to have Elliot or Leo get the most attention whenever possible.

'My name is Oz Vessalius, it's a pleasure to meet you,' he said, in reality not really caring about the aloof blond that reminded him of Elliot on his worst days.

'I'm Draco Malfoy,' the boy replied and introduced the two boys that were on his either side, to which Oz replied by introducing the other three.

'Are you really future dukes?' a girl asked, earning a scowl from Draco, who was very obviously accustomed to play the leading role. Oz smiled at the girl brilliantly and told her that they all hoped the current Dukes lived long and peaceful lives. Next to him, Elliot straightened a bit and Oz smiled at him as well.

'We heard that you're cupped up with the Gryffindors,' Draco drawled. 'I have no idea why Dumbledore put such important guests in such a hopeless House,' he added. Somebody in the back said that it could have been Hufflepuff, to which Draco nodded, albeit with a scowl. Oz had a feeling that he was not going to like Draco.

'They sure can be annoying,' Elliot agreed stiffly, drawing Draco's attention to himself. After all, they have been told to try and approach other students as well, to get as comprehensive picture of the situation as possible. Or at least Oz assumed that was why Elliot was acknowledging the words of the prideful Slytherin.

'I was wondering if you three can talk,' Draco laughed mockingly.

'If we deem the ones in front of us worthy of our words,' Elliot replied without missing a beat, his voice nearly hostile. His tone and expression made it clear that he hasn't made up his mind about the Slytherin in front of him yet. Draco glared but Oz could see a glint of appreciation in his eyes.

'I suppose you don't get to talk much in with the Gryffindors then,' Draco said finally, probably in his own way acknowledging the comment as worthwhile. 'If you're looking for a more refined company-'

'They will surely not come knocking on your door, Malfoy,' Ron's voice interjected and Oz turned to see the Gryffindor students arrive. He didn't miss the glint in Elliot's eyes that said the Nightray might just consider Draco more refined than Ron. Draco's gaze hardened into a cold glare as he turned to the newcomers as well.

'Surely they will not come to you, Weasley, with your rags of robes and rude mouth,' Draco countered with such intense passion that Oz was surprised. There was obviously a history of enmity between those two that exceeded the apparent competition between the Gryffindor and Slytherin houses.

'If your value is only in money-' Ron started.

'He did say "rude mouth" as well,' Elliot pointed out in a cold and calm tone, cutting Ron's rant before it had the chance to begin. Oz noted the shocked expressions on Harry's and Hermione's faces that soon morphed into worry and suspicion. They should definitely get more information about the Slytherin House, before Elliot attempted to approach them. Were the Slytherins really evil wizards? But in that case, they needed to get closer to them and find out where Gil and Break should go to neutralise the Chains. Could they risk being grouped with "evil wizards" when their magic was already thought to be dark?

Before Oz could delve too much into the problem and anybody could say anything else, the door to the classroom opened. With a dignified huff, Draco strode inside, the Slytherins in tow.

'You really don't want to associate with Malfoy,' Harry muttered to Oz before the Gryffindors followed suit, leaving only the four exchange students in the corridor.

'This should be interesting,' Leo commented with a slight smile, stepping into the classroom. Oz, Elliot and Alice followed him.

'As you might have realised, this class will be joined by our esteemed exchange students from now on,' Professor Kruspe was saying as they joined the wide circle of students. 'I hope you will all behave accordingly. As I have promised, we are going to start learning how to duel with magical creatures today.'

'This is going to be so cool,' Ron muttered somewhere close to Oz, while the teacher explained that he will name a person from the class and then release a random magical creature at them. They would see how the person managed the creature and discuss what could be done better or worse. The following week, they would all get their chance with one of the creatures and the week after with another.

Oz had to admit that it was a useful idea and he watched with interest until the teacher turned in their direction and called out Alice, saying that he was really looking to see how a foreigner would manage. A foreboding feeling nearly overwhelmed him as Alice stepped into the middle of the circle, looking ready to kill.

'Would you like to borrow a wand?' Hermione asked helpfully, extending the piece of wood towards the girl, surprised when Alice nearly jumped away from her.

Unwillingly, Oz remembered their visit at the wandmaker Ollivander's shop, some days before the beginning of the school year. The man seemed overjoyed to have so many customers, if rather puzzled when Gil and Break said they, and Reim, would also be requiring new wands. The man's delight, however, disappeared as soon as Gil grabbed the first wand and collapsed with a pained scream while black feathers fluttered through the air in the shop.

What happened afterwards was a bit of a blur, but it surely contained Break somehow kicking the piece of wood out of Gilbert's hand and asking Oz if he would like to try and pick the thing up. Oz tried, but as soon as he was about to grab it, something pushed him against the furthest wall of the shop and it took all his willpower to not draw the B-rabbit's scythe and hack away at the invasive feeling.

Ollivander took the wand away, muttering about how he has never seen a reaction quite as strong as this and that he was going to find a different wand for Gilbert to try, even as Break was helping the dark-haired man up. They thanked the wandmaker as politely as they could and all but ran out of the shop.

Chains did not mix well with wands. Probably. Although it seemed to be alright to be in proximity of wands as long as they didn't intend to actually hold them or use them.

'I'll try without,' Alice said, bringing Oz back to reality, where their Defence against the Dark Arts teacher was looking at the girl strangely. They got a lot of weird looks from people when they said they didn't use wands, but this was slightly different. Could the man know something more than the other wizards? A chill ran down Oz's spine at the very thought.

'Are you ready then?' their teacher asked, pushing a large box in front of him. Alice laughed and told him to bring it on in a tone that made Oz remember the girl he had brought out from the Abyss.

'I hope she doesn't do anything stupid,' Leo muttered.

Professor Kruspe opened the box and a spidery looking thing jumped out. Next to Oz, Ron whimpered, but the creature was completely focused on Alice. As it charged, Alice ran towards it as well, ignoring the shouts of shock. Oz held his breath but, in the last moment, the girl dived, kicking the spidery thing in its legs, making it loose balance.

Hermione squealed, covering her mouth with her hands, as the creature wailed and rolled while Alice regained her battle stance. The creature looked at the students and turned, before spotting Alice and charging with another wail. This time, Alice jumped and kicked it between its eyes.

Propelled back by the force of collision, she still managed to land on the ground somewhat gracefully, facing the collapsed creature, ready to pounce again. However, it became immediately obvious that the beast would not attack again, as it was curling up, emitting small, pained noises. Nobody dared to as much as twitch, waiting for what would happen next.

'That certainly was not conventional,' Professor Kruspe commented in the dead silence of the classroom. He waved his wand and the creature got sucked back up into the box that seemed to be too small to fit it. In the meantime, Alice got up, dusting her uniform and turning to him, arms on her hips.

'I don't know any offensive spells, so what did you expect me to do?' she asked bluntly and, even though Oz couldn't see her expression, he was sure that she was glaring at the teacher. The latter smiled slightly and, yet again, Oz wondered about the man. Did he have an ulterior motive in making an inexperienced student fight with a creature? What did he expect? That a Chain would spring out from thin air and eat the beast?

Whatever were the answers to those questions, he realised that he didn't really like the teacher and his attitude. He would have to make sure to warn Gil and Break about Cain Kruspe tonight, before they go out on their first escapade outside of the castle.

'I was wondering,' the teacher said smoothly. 'What would you do if it was a wizard who would send curses at you?' he asked, looking perhaps a bit too closely at the girl. Oz felt his fists clench as the protective instinct washed over him.

'I would dodge,' Alice replied without hesitation, self-confidence radiating from her stance and tone. A moment of surprise registered on the teacher's face before he smiled again.

'You wouldn't have thought of defensive spells?' he asked. Alice crossed her arms, probably pouting. 'Protego would surely come handy in case of curses flung at you,' he added, before glancing at the class. 'Any ideas what Lady Rainsworth could have done otherwise with the creature? Protego would, naturally, not do much good against a physical attack.'

Somewhat unwillingly, Hermione raised her hand and, at the prompt from the teacher, explained how this kind of creature was afraid of water and a water summoning charm would repel it easily.

'What do I do when my water summoning charm finishes?' Alice asked the teacher, challenge clearly audible in her voice. 'How is it useful to spend my strength on repelling the creature when it will attack me once I ran out of strength?'

'Would you rather kill it?' the teacher asked back and even Oz could hear the trap in his voice. Alice probably wouldn't, since she took everything at face value.

'It all depends in what we value more,' Leo interjected smoothly. Everybody, including Alice, turned to look at him, surprised that he spoke up. 'In the classroom, the beast is clearly not a danger, but isn't this class supposed to prepare us for the situations we might encounter in real life?'

'Point taken, Lord Barma,' the teacher replied with a hint of humour in his voice. 'The textbook answer is of course to use the water summoning charm to repel the beast, however, if you ever encounter a bunch of those in the deep forest, don't hesitate to kill.'

'Is this really what a teacher should be saying?' Hermione muttered. Oz wished he could have seen her face when Elliot pointed out that they were at war. In the meantime, the teacher asked them for an essay on the magical creatures encountered in the class and preparation for the next lesson when each of them would face the ghoulish thing that Pansy Parkinson has been battling in the beginning of that day's class.


	6. Headmaster's wish

**Ch. 6: Headmaster's wish**

On the first day of October, Harry got a note from Dumbledore, asking Harry to visit him in his office in the evening.

'I wonder what he wants,' Ron asked when Harry told him and Hermione about the note, while they were having breakfast. As usual, the exchange students didn't come to the Great Hall in the morning, although they have taken to eating lunches and dinners with the other students when they started attending some classes.

'No idea, but I'm glad. I have so many things to ask him about,' Harry replied truthfully. Since a couple of nights, he has been having dreams about something that he couldn't understand, but it felt like the dreams belonged to Voldemort. Was it possible for two sleeping brains to connect? Or was Voldemort sending him confusing images on purpose?

'About those dreams?' Hermione guessed, her tone serious. Harry almost regretted mentioning the dreams to her and Ron, because his two best friends freaked out at the mention of Voldemort invading Harry's brain.

'Yeah,' he replied, folding the note away and getting up, because it was time to go for classes. His friends followed him and they made their way to the dungeons, where Snape was probably waiting with some mean ideas. This year the Potions professor was even nastier than the years before and Harry had no doubt that it was because Voldemort has risen.

They suffered through the lesson, full of snide remarks and contempt-filled glares, in silence, grateful when the time was to leave the dungeon for lunch. Much to Harry's dislike, the second lesson that day was Care of Magical Creatures and he had to stand everybody's prise of Professor Grubbly-Plank. The worst was that he couldn't quite disagree with them because the lessons now were probably more pedagogic and safe. However, he would be damned if he let anybody know that, if only because Hagrid was his friend.

The last lesson was Divination for Harry and Ron and Ancient Runes for Hermione, completing Harry's "day in hell", as he privately dubbed Tuesdays since the beginning of this year. As always, Trelawney figured out a way to mention Harry dying in some gruesome way. The fact that she believed him about the return of Voldemort was small consolation in comparison.

Arriving to the Great Hall, relieved that the day was nearly over and looking forward to the meeting with Dumbledore, he was surprised to see Oz and Alice already seated at the Gryffindor table. Alice was busy eating, but Oz waved at Harry and Ron happily.

'Snape let you out early?' Ron asked as they sat down opposite to the two students.

'Yup, he had to do something else or whatever,' Oz replied carelessly, but Harry and Ron exchanged worried glances. Was Snape going to some Deatheater meeting? Would there be more death in the Daily Prophet the following day?

Harry glanced at the Slytherin table, where Malfoy was in the centre of attention of the fifth-year students, talking about something. With the corner of his eye, Harry noticed Elliot sitting together with the sixth years. The oldest of the exchange students took to chatting with the Slytherins every once in a while and, from what Harry could see, he was talking much more than when he was sitting with them.

'So Elliot doesn't like us?' Harry asked, itching to warn Oz again about the Slytherins and their probable allegiance to Voldemort. What if the Deatheaters kidnapped Elliot and asked for his family to surrender to them in exchange for the boy's life? Would Elliot's father be able to resist such blackmail? When he asked that the other day, Oz just looked at him strangely and said that Elliot would not be kidnapped and used against his family, because Raven and Hatter would protect him.

'I think Fred and George are above Elliot's tolerance of carefreeness,' Oz replied diplomatically, eliciting a laugh from Alice. 'He'll eventually recalibrate and come back here because, from what he's saying, the Slytherins are annoying as well. He tried talking with Draco, but that guy is only interested in followers, not friends. And Elliot is not a follower, he's a leader.'

'That sounds awfully grown up,' Ron muttered under his breath as Hermione arrived. Oz looked like he was going to say something, but Alice asking Hermione about any new, cool spells that she's learned effectively changed the topic of the conversation.

'I saw Leo talking with the Ravenclaws from my Ancient Runes class,' Hermione replied. 'He's getting real good in Charms so you should ask him,' she added, piling food on her plate, even as her spoon danced in front of Alice, much to the girl's delight.

'Hermione! This is wandless magic,' Harry exclaimed, realising that the spoon was dancing to Hermione's wishes. The young witch laughed and the spoon fell down onto the table.

'I cannot be worse than Leo now, can I?' she asked cheerfully and started eating, talking with Alice in between, trying to teach her to make the spoon dance. Ron muttered something about how Hermione didn't need encouragement from anybody and focused his attention on the chicken legs in front of him.

'You know, I never thought I would meet somebody who eats as much as Alice does,' Oz commented, nibbling on his food.

'We never thought we would meet anybody who eats as much as Ron does,' said Ginny, sitting down next to Harry with a laugh. 'I want to know her secrets for keeping slim with the amount of food she eats,' she added, putting some food on her own plate.

'Me too,' Hermione chimed in from Alice's side. The latter looked slightly confused and asked what secrets about keeping slim she could have.

'Work out,' Ron exclaimed. 'If you could battle that thing in the Defence against the Dark Arts class, you sure as hell work out.'

'What is work out?' Alice asked. Harry blinked at her incredulously, noticing with the corner of his eye that so did Hermione, Ron and Ginny. Not getting her answer, Alice turned to Oz who said that he supposed Ron meant physical exercise.

'By the way,' Ginny started after a moment of silence that followed Oz's explanation. 'Is that dark-haired guy with you?' she asked, looking at Oz intently. Hermione seemed also interested in the topic, because she looked up at Oz as well.

'Dark-haired guy?' Oz repeated. 'Ah, you mean the guy dressed all in black, sulking in the shadows?' he asked with a laugh.

'Raven,' Alice muttered with some dislike, before either Hermione or Ginny had the time to confirm that it was the guy they were talking about. The latter frowned and repeated the word, while Hermione's eyes widened slightly.

'That is your bodyguard?' she asked with some amazement and laughed. 'I kind of imagined your bodyguards to be more of the muscle type for some reason,' she added. Ron asked Harry if he had seen any dark-haired guy in the corridors. He hasn't. 'I was wondering who that man was, since he's not with the Order and I didn't think that Dumbledore would allow anybody else into the castle.'

'Do you know all the members of the Order of the Phoenix?' Alice asked with some sort of surprise. 'Is it that small?'

'It's big enough to do what it's supposed to do,' Ron snapped at the brown-haired girl, who didn't seem to take offense, but just looked at him doubtfully.

'If you say so,' she muttered and went back to trying to make the spoon dance.

'Yeah, so that guy is Raven and the white-haired guy with weird clothes is Hatter,' Oz amended, watching the spoon twitch under Alice's extended hand. Apparently Professor Flitwick told the exchange students that trying to focus the magic through an extended hand might make it easier to cast spells.

'Raven is very handsome,' Hermione noted, blushing almost immediately, as Oz laughed out at her statement. She had tried to make it sound like a neutral observation, but if her blush was any indication, Harry would guess that it was her personal opinion. Ron frowned and muttered that he didn't like that Raven guy.

'It's refreshing to have a sexy guy walking around the corridors,' Ginny noted with a smirk, laughing when Ron shouted at her to not be thinking about this kind of things. Oz said something about Hatter always being disappointed when Raven got all the attention of women.

'But don't let that fool you, Raven has a one-track mind,' Alice grumbled, glaring at the spoon. As silence fell, she looked up at the Gryffindors and a strange expression flitted across her face, before she added that he took his task of protecting the heirs of the Dukedoms really seriously. Afterwards, she went back to her spoon and Harry watched for a moment how the utensil twitched.

'Harry, shouldn't you be going?' Hermione asked suddenly and Harry realised that it was almost the time for his meeting with Dumbledore. Just as Oz asked him where he was going, Alice exclaimed that she managed to make the spoon dance and Harry couldn't have wished for a better diversion.

He slipped away from the Great Hall, knowing somehow that it wouldn't have been good if he had said anything about meeting the headmaster. Normal students didn't meet the headmaster and the exchange guests were deeply suspicious to anything that was out of routine. He didn't want to lose their trust over something that didn't concern them in the slightest.

Feeling observed as he rushed down the corridor, Harry stopped and turned, his eyes meeting a golden gaze that belonged to a black-clad man. Raven, he thought immediately, not only because it simply couldn't have been anybody else, but also because the name somehow fitted.

He smiled at the man, thinking that, if he continues being friends with Oz and Alice, he would probably meet him sooner or later and there was no point in starting on a bad note. However, the man didn't smile back at all, rather turned away and all but melted into the shadows, where Harry thought he could see a red eye gleam.

Uh, I must be more tired than I thought, he told himself, dismissing the gleaming eye as a hallucination. After all, there were no gleaming-eyed creatures in the castle and no red-eyed people either. With a sigh, Harry turned to go on towards the headmaster's office. On the way, he thought about the strange encounter, not sure why the man didn't fit into Hermione's idea of a bodyguard. Sure, he was nothing like Mad-Eyed Moody, Harry had to admit that, but Mad-Eye was an exception of exceptions after all. Raven was, however, tall and imposing and probably could dissuade half of dangers just by glaring at them with those unnaturally coloured eyes. Harry didn't see anything handsome or sexy about the man, rather he felt that it was a very dangerous person. He didn't know where that thought came from, but he hoped to never meet Raven again in an empty corridor.

It could just be that he looks like that from far, Harry reasoned. He's probably a pretty nice guy in the end.

With that thought firmly in his mind, Harry finally arrived at the headmaster's office and was let in by the gargoyle, who was probably informed about Harry's awaited arrival. He wasted no time in reaching the door and opening it after a brisk knock.

'Ah, Harry,' Dumbledore welcomed him, looking up from some notes on his desk. 'Do come in my boy. How are you doing this school year?' he asked with his friendly tone, however, Harry noticed that Dumbledore's eyes were serious.

'Quite fine professor, except-'

'Are you enjoying the company of the exchange students?' Dumbledore asked, probably for the first time ever cutting off Harry's sentence like that. The boy stared for a moment, before realising that the headmaster was waiting for the answer.

'They're real nice kids,' he said finally, uncertain about his words all of the sudden. Now that he thought about it, they were not much of "kids". 'We get along very well with Oz and Alice and Leo,' he added, feeling like something more was expected from him. 'Elliot is a bit closed off, but Oz says that he'll warm up to us eventually.'

'Yes, it seems that Lord Nightray chooses to spend his free time with the Slytherin students,' Dumbledore mused and Harry had to wonder if the headmaster was keeping such close attention on every student. Himself, he always thought to be an exception, due to the events that took place when he was one year old.

'Professor, are they really the heirs of the Duke families?' Harry asked, realising that even the headmaster used a title when talking about Elliot, while normally he would use the student's name.

'So they say, Harry, so they say,' Dumbledore muttered and sighed. 'We have no choice but to trust what is being told to us about them, because we have no knowledge about their land,' he added.

'Why did the Four Great Dukedoms isolate themselves so thoroughly?' Harry asked, remembering Hermione's frustration at the lack of information in the library. 'Why did they stop their isolation now?' he added, remembering Ron's suspicions. Dumbledore sighed and motioned for him to sit down.

'The answer to both questions is "I don't know", my dear boy. The Duke Barma wrote to me in the summer, asking if we would like to teach four children,' he said. 'Incidentally, would you like to tell me what Professor Lunettes is teaching you?' he asked. Surprised, Harry summarised what he had heard about the Core of Magic so far.

Dumbledore didn't interrupt him once, nodding every now and then and scribbling something on a piece of parchment. When Harry was finished and asked the headmaster what he was writing, he was shocked by the answer.

'You see, Harry, I would very much like to know what the Core of Magic really is,' he said with a small smile. 'I would like to know how it is incompatible with wands if it is the same magic as ours, just differently named,' he added in a tone that even Harry could interpret as disbelief. Harry would lie if he said that it didn't make him curious when the headmaster phrased it like that.


	7. Nightlife

**Ch. 7: Nightlife**

'You shouldn't glare at students like that, Raven,' Break said in a light tone when the footsteps of Harry "The Boy Who Lived" Potter faded down the other end of the corridor. How in the world would that damned, blind man know whether or not he was glaring?

'I am not glaring,' Gilbert replied, stopping as he reached his partner. 'Just making sure that we have been seen in the castle before we leave,' he added.

Ever since the beginning of the school year, Break and Gilbert took to sleeping during the day and working during the night. For one, all the attacks they suspected to be committed with the help of Chains have occurred at night. If they hoped to catch the Illegal Contractors red-handed, they would have to also move at night. If they hoped to catch the Chains, full stop, they needed to be there when the Chains were out.

Secondly, the teachers were patrolling the corridors at night, occasionally meeting with strangers from something called the Order of the Phoenix, chatting between themselves. Hiding in the shadows, unnoticed by the wizards, Break and Gilbert could hear plenty of information that would otherwise be inaccessible: the happenings in the Ministry, the details about the Order and the attacks that were not made public knowledge and, finally, the teachers' suspicions and thoughts on the guests from the Dukedoms.

Thirdly, the corridors were abandoned, with the exception of teacher patrols, which were easy enough to avoid, giving them freedom to move about the castle undetected, as well as leave and arrive unnoticed. The wizards believed that nobody would sneak in or out of the castle, thus, if they did it unseen, nobody would suspect them of being in London, for example, when somebody would get shot dead or sliced in half. Not to mention that they didn't let anybody see neither Gilbert's gun nor Break's sword.

To further strengthen their alibi, and prevent people from thinking that they were weirdly absent as bodyguards, they took care to show up at random times during the day. Mostly in the morning and in the evening when they were back or haven't yet left, a couple of times waking up in the middle of the day to be seen around lunch time.

'Are we ready to go?' Gilbert asked, double-checking that his gun was loaded and the spare bullets were secured in his pocket.

'I've set up some sort of alarm spell that will call us back immediately, should something bad happen here,' Break answered as his hand rested on his faithful sword. They have spent loads of time, in the beginning, reading through the books that Reim checked out of the library for "his own study of the fascinating magic". Or, Reim and Gilbert were reading, while Break only annoyed them and demanded to be told the important bits.

'If you're sure that you did it properly,' Gilbert muttered, clearly pleased by annoying Break, reminding him that for once he wasn't the most competent in the group. He supposed it was a childish come-back for their relations when he was younger.

'Don't you have anything useful to say?' the white-haired man asked with an irritated tone and Gilbert knew that he struck a chord, since the man would otherwise pretend to be unperturbed. Or he would be unperturbed. For all that Gilbert knew there was not much that disturbed the Hatter.

'Let's get out of the wards before I call Raven,' Gilbert replied, getting back to business. 'I'm not sure if the wards would sense anything, but there's no point in risking it,' he added. Previously, they only went to the close-by wizarding villages, so they could walk, but tonight their destination was London. The Chains have killed one person too many and Owl came with the message from Pandora that this had to stop.

'The wards should sense any offensive use of magic and transportation is not such,' Break argued as they made their way down the abandoned corridor.

'The wards are supposed to make Apparition impossible,' Gilbert countered. 'And I think that using Raven to get to London is close enough to Apparating,' he added. Without further comments, they made their way out of the castle and across the grounds, towards the Forbidden Forest, where they knew the border of the warded land was.

The wards tickled Gilbert's skin as he walked through them, Break following a minute later, to not trigger the thing. An image of Raven stretching its wings crossed his mind and he wondered if his Chain didn't like the wards. He wouldn't blame it, because the wards made his skin crawl sometimes. He wondered if Leo felt the same.

'Are you waiting for an invitation?' Break asked with some annoyance. With a glare at the white-haired man, Gilbert called Raven and the forest disappeared from their view, hidden by a black whirlwind. When the whirlwind cleared, they were in London. Or so Gilbert assumed, since he had asked Raven to take them to London.

They were in an abandoned alley that lacked light in comparison with the bigger street they could see a couple of meters in front. As far as Gilbert could see, there was nobody in sight and nobody witnessed their appearance. Without a word, they left the alley.

'I wish we had better information about the area where the Chains are active,' Break muttered as they joined the crowds on the street. 'Sounds like a busy place, we don't want to engage in a fight here.'

'Raven thinks there are Chains in proximity to here, so we might have to,' Gilbert replied, scanning the surroundings carefully, cursing as he saw a familiar face. Knowing that Break could not see the man, he explained that there was one of those who patrolled the corridors of the castle.

'A member of the Order of the Phoenix, eh?' Break muttered. 'We should be in the right place then, if it really is so that the Deatheaters are the contractors,' he added. They both cast a dissimulation spells at the same moment and Gilbert winced at the thought that they were thinking the same.

'Let's follow that man for the moment,' he suggested, knowing fully well that Break got the same idea. Profiting from the fact that the man was standing next to a coffee shop, he semi-led Break to stand almost next to him, ordering two coffees to take away.

'I don't like that we're in a middle of a Muggle street, Remus,' said a companion of the man they were going to tail. 'I almost hope that Kingsley was wrong and the Deatheaters will not show up to kill the Murreys,' she added. Gilbert risked a glance at her, wondering if the bright pink hair was a part of disguise.

'It will be alright, Tonks,' the man assured her. 'In an hour most of those Muggles will be gone anyway,' he added. Gilbert glanced at the coffee shop window, noticing that it was closing already. He went back to Break, who was standing nearby, pretending to read the newspaper from the stand.

'Are you going to buy it or not?' a rude voice asked just as Gilbert reached Break and handed him the coffee. The white-haired man grinned and said that he didn't see anything of interest, so he was not going to spend his precious money.

'Our excuse to wait with those two might not be good enough,' Gilbert muttered, careful to face away from "Remus" and "Tonks", just in case they would feel like reading lips. 'According to the man this street should become pretty much deserted, so we will stand out and the coffee shop is closing.'

'Isn't there a restaurant just next to it?' Break asked carelessly. 'Let's have a dinner outside and enjoy the spectacle,' he added. Gilbert eyed the restaurant doubtfully. There were a couple of empty tables in the part that was semi open to the street and most of the people sitting there seemed to be decent.

'It will not hurt to have a dinner,' he muttered. 'But it's a Chinese restaurant, so don't complain afterwards that there are no worthwhile desserts,' he warned, knowing full well that Break mostly cared about the sweets.

The waitress sat them next to a couple and left them with the menus, promising to be back in a moment to take their order. Break didn't even pretend to read the menu and Gilbert only bothered to tell him what the desserts were. When the waitress was back, he ordered the first dish on the menu, while Break requested three portions of brownies and two pieces of cheesecake.

'You could be at least a bit discreet,' Gilbert hissed, noticing a dark-clad man glaring at them from the table behind Break. He ignored Break's reply and whispered that there was a guy who wouldn't stop glaring.

'Does he look like the person we're waiting for?' Break asked, hand reaching for the sword. No sooner than he spoke those words, the man rose from his chair and made their way towards them, not quite inconspicuously. Break stiffened.

'I recognise a crappy disillusionment charm when I see one,' the man rasped in a low tone. 'Are you kids with the Order maybe?'

'Whatever it is that you are digging into my ribs is really unnecessary,' Break replied calmly, even as Gilbert's hand moved to grab his gun. 'We are just here to have a dinner and we much more prefer chaos to order,' he added.

'I'm not in mood for jokes,' the man hissed, leaning closer to Break, whose red eye widened momentarily.

'He stinks of Chains,' the Hatter said tonelessly and the man behind him recoiled. At least they got what they came for, Gilbert mused, quickly glancing around the restaurant. There was no way he could blow the man's head away here and not create a great commotion.

'That is a nice coincidence,' he said, making a move to get up. Break hissed, probably as the wand was further pressed against his back.

'Don't move or I'll hex your partner into next week,' the man threatened, hardly seeming to care that they were starting to attract attention of the other customers in the restaurant.

'Partner?' Break asked mockingly, however, before he managed to say anything more, the man called Remus arrived with the woman called Tonks right behind him.

'Is that man bothering you, sirs?' Remus asked with fake politeness. The man cursed and flung his arm into Remus' face, before darting out of the restaurant, tripping tables behind him.

Cursing, Gilbert and Break ran after him, jumping over the tables. Gilbert could hear Remus yell behind them, but he couldn't care less. They were definitely not going to let that contractor escape.

The contractor ran into a smaller alley, looking behind and shooting light out of his wand. Gilbert dodged, not bothering to see what damage the light did behind him, even when somebody shouted out in pain. When he turned into the alley he was met by an unwelcomed but not surprising sight: a Chain.

'You know, playing with toys like that is dangerous,' said Break, who arrived in the alley right after Gilbert and must have sensed the Chain out. 'How is the seal on your chest, hm?'

'I don't know what you're talking about,' the man yelled while the Chain behind him wailed angrily. 'Whoever you are, you're as stupid as you are dead. You should have run when that idiot saved your asses.'

'How many contractors are there here?' Break demanded instead of acknowledging the threat. Gilbert aimed the gun at the beast and shot. The beast wailed, recoiling as it was hit, while the man staggered back. He felt the pain of his Chain, so there was not much time left for him anyway. Did he know that?

'Ah, I see that the needle has almost completed its turn,' Break commented and Gilbert could hear the smile in his voice. Panting, the man looked up at the two of them, murderous intent glinting in his eyes.

'Stand back,' yelled the man called Remus somewhere behind Gilbert. They ignored him for the moment.

'There are enough of us to wipe clean the Order of the Phoenix and assure the Dark Lord's victory this time,' the contractor promised. Hardly helpful, Gilbert thought and, as Break ran towards the guy, he aimed at the Chain's head. Just as Break decapitated the man, Gilbert shot the Chain.

'What the hell did you do?' Remus yelled again as Break ran away from the Chain and contractor who were melting into the asphalt, accompanied by purple light. Putting away his gun, hoping that the dissimulation charm was still in place, Gilbert turned to the man who was looking at him and Break with wide eyes and a wand pointed at his chest. The woman behind him had her wand pointed at Break's chest.

'Helped you clean up,' Break replied smoothly. 'Let's get out of here,' he added and Gilbert called Raven to take them to another place where they might find a Chain. They were hardly done and the night was young. If they could get rid of all the Chains fast they would maybe not have to stay in Scotland for the whole year.

'Stop this, we need to talk,' Remus yelled as black whirlwind emerged from the asphalt around Gilbert and Break. 'We have the same enemy, we can unite.'

'Keep away from those things if you know what's best for you,' Gilbert replied coldly before the black whirlwind engulfed him and Break completely.


	8. Piling secrets

**Ch. 8: Piling secrets**

'I have been wondering about that as well,' Hermione admitted. Harry has just finished talking about his meeting with Dumbledore. They were sitting in the corner of the common room, in their own sound bubble created by Hermione, profiting from the fact that the exchange students didn't come to meet with them tonight.

'Although I didn't expect Dumbledore to not know and, even more so, I didn't expect him to actually call you to his office just to tell you that,' she continued with a frown. Was she insinuating that Dumbledore only wanted to tell that particular thing to Harry?

'Didn't he call Harry to ask about Lunettes?' Ron asked, looking as confused as Harry felt. 'It's still weird but maybe he doesn't trust the guy and thus asked a trusted student to tell you a bit about the lessons,' he added. It felt nice to be called Dumbledore's trusted student, even if it was by Ron.

'Even if,' Hermione argued. 'The fact that he doesn't trust a man he employs is just as weird.'

'I have to agree with Hermione here,' Harry said. 'He really was making notes, as though he would like to study some things later on.'

'There's something fishy about those guys,' Ron concluded. Hermione rolled her eyes, as she always did when Ron stated the obvious. 'But how could Dumbledore let them into Hogwarts if he isn't sure of them?'

'To gather information about them,' Hermione replied as though it was obvious. Pieces were slowly fitting in Harry's head: the reason why the exchange students were put in Gryffindor and why the headmaster wanted to talk with him about them. It all started to become clear.

'Could it be that he basically asked me to spy on them?' he asked with some surprise in his voice.

'I think that's exactly what he did,' Hermione agreed, her expression as serious as Ron's was eager. 'The thing is, I don't like that he felt like he had to ask you. What is there that we don't know? It cannot be that it's dangerous because he would never willingly send you into danger. Would the delicate diplomatic situation stop Dumbledore? I mean if we get caught sneaking around then he can always say we're too curious.'

'Whoa, Hermione, aren't you overthinking this a bit?' Ron asked, stopping the girl, whose words were picking up speed with every sentence. 'There only are things that we don't know about those four. They almost never talk about their homes or their families. They barely ever mention any magical education. More so, they don't seem to have ever had one!'

'Ron is right,' Harry agreed. 'Although we never asked about it and neither have they ever asked about our families,' he added.

'They know all about my family,' Ron pointed out, ignoring Hermione's "that's because you talk about them so much". 'And they know that Hermione is Muggle-born,' he added in his own defence. It was true that one day Oz had asked if they were all pure bloods in Hogwarts, a question that had very nearly sparkled an argument, because Hermione was in a bad mood.

Oz had immediately apologised and said that he only meant it out of curiosity, because some of the Slytherin students had told Elliot that there was a difference between pure blood wizards and others. What had followed was a long discussion about blood and old wizarding families and Voldemort. Funny that none of them had ever thought to ask the exchange students what they thought about the question.

'All their families were mentioned in the Pure Blood Peerage,' Hermione muttered, probably thinking about the same evening as Harry. 'However, they seemed to be almost foreign to the concept of "pure blood" when we talked about it. It cannot be that they only acknowledge pure blood wizards, or they wouldn't have reacted so agreeably to the news that I'm not.'

'They are very diplomatic,' Harry pointed out. 'Maybe we can ask them about their families next time?'

'Just like that, out of nowhere?' Hermione asked doubtfully. 'If it's a secret, it will be like with the wands, they will evade the question.'

'If they evade the question, then we start investigating,' Harry assured her. 'I don't know if that was Dumbledore's aim, but I'm now very curious. I've been thinking about it all the way back from his office, about the things we don't know.'

'They never really shared any funny stories either,' Ron reminded them. Trust Ron to remember something like that. It seemed like an unimportant detail, but wouldn't every teenaged person have some silly adventures to share? Or were they really so serious and never done any mischief?

Harry could easily imagine Oz getting into the worse trouble ever, together with Alice and maybe even with Leo. Come to think of it, did they know each other well? They seemed to be best friends, almost reading each other's minds, but they never said anything like "I've known those three since I can remember". Were their families friends?

'Now that I think about it, they seem to be foreign to most of the wizarding concepts,' Hermione commented. 'They didn't know anything about Quidditch and you just should have seen Alice's expression when we met a House Elf once.'

'But Professor Lunettes seems to be rather competent,' Harry countered. 'Isn't it weird that they would have competent teachers but be ignorant themselves? And it's not like they are eleven and just discovered that magic exists.'

'Maybe they start school later?' Hermione ventured doubtfully.

'Nice case of Muffliato charm,' said Fred's voice, making them all jump up in shock. The red-haired twin took another step closer to them and sighed in pleasure. 'Really, Hermione, you're such a competent witch.'

'Why do you assume it was Hermione who cast the spell?' Ron asked immediately, flaring up in anger. Fred laughed. George joined them and asked what the big secret was.

'Obviously it was not you,' Fred replied with a mocking smirk. 'So what is the secret?' he repeated his twin's question.

'No secret,' Harry said, perhaps too fast, because the twins laughed. Then again, using a Muffliato charm did scream "I'm sharing secrets here" to everybody who would realise that there was a charm cast.

'See, we're testing an anti-muffliato device here and we heard something about Alice and Lunettes playing Quidditch,' George commented calmly. 'Now of course our device is not perfect because the only thing Lunettes probably does with brooms is stick them up his ass,' he added, laughing at his joke. Harry snorted, because the professor really was quite stiff.

'Alice, however, could be a different question. We heard that she's brutal, so maybe we could get her as a Beater for the Quidditch team?' Fred suggested.

'A gust of wind would probably swipe her off the broom though, she's so thin,' Ron argued, taking his brother's suggestion seriously. The twins snickered, saying that this thin girl had obviously more guts than Ron because she attacked the spidery monster head on, while Ron whimpered and almost ran. They laughed harder at Ron's outraged expression.

'Come on guys,' Harry interjected before the bristling Ron had the chance to start his tirade about brotherly loyalty. 'I don't think Alice is allowed to play Quidditch, her bodyguards would probably veto the idea.'

'Ha! Did you ever see those bodyguards?' Fred laughed. 'They both look like the two of us could beat them in a simple duel.'

'I'm sure you couldn't,' Hermione replied with annoyance. 'I swear, you two are so full of yourselves.'

'We know our worth, Hermione, and we know that girls like guys who know what they're worth,' George countered with what he probably hoped was a charming smile. Harry, however, had problems in seeing the twins as charming.

'That's why Ron cannot get a girlfriend,' Fred added, very matter-of-factly. 'But tell us what about the charming, litter Alice from Wonderland?'

'Nothing, we were wondering about how "Wonderland" is, in fact,' Harry told them, resigned that they would not leave until they get their answer.

'You don't know?' George asked in disbelief.

'But you spend so much time talking with them,' Fred added. Has it been so obvious? Were all the Gryffindors thinking that Harry, Ron and Hermione would become experts in the topic of the Four Great Dukedoms?

'We were hoping to get some news from you,' said George.

'That's really why we came here now,' Fred pointed out.

'No, we don't really know anything about Wonderland,' Harry admitted. 'I just talked with Dumbledore and he seems to not know much either, which is possibly the most surprising of it all.'

The twins seemed instantly interested and Harry was forced to retell the whole conversation with Dumbledore again. They offered some insight and immediately declared their readiness to help Harry spy on the foreigners. It appeared that they have been devising plenty of contraptions that could be useful in espionage. They had, of course, the extendable ears, but were also working on the spells to neutralise Muffliato and disillusionment charms. Even Hermione was impressed with their ideas.

That night, Harry went to sleep satisfied. They have come up with a plan on how to inconspicuously follow the exchange students and try to overhear them when they were alone to see if they can get any answers that way.

He dreamt again about those weird places, where transparent bowls were piled from floor to ceiling, some reflecting lights, some shining ever so slightly. They were beautiful in their own, peculiar way and, even dreaming, Harry knew that they carried knowledge. What knowledge? Was this something from the Four Great Dukedoms? Could he even be dreaming about a place he didn't know?

He woke up with a cold shiver. What if he was looking through Voldemort's eyes again? What if Voldemort somehow got to the Four Great Dukedoms? It took all his willpower to not spring out his bed and rush to the private dormitory hidden in the Gryffindor tower. Only the thought that he would have to explain more things than he knew how to stopped him and he promised himself that he would talk with Oz about "Wonderland" as soon as he meets the kid.

Afterwards, he couldn't sleep anymore, tossing and turning until it was alright to get dressed and go to the Great Hall for breakfast. He took care to not wake the other guys up as he got dressed and left, quietly walking down the stairs and out of the common room.

It was still very early and the corridors were deserted, so when he heard a conversation, he automatically flattened himself against the wall and listened.

'They were two, with very bad disillusionment charms,' said Tonks' voice, sounding tired. It seemed that Harry wasn't the only one who has had a bad night. 'One had a Muggle gun and one had a sword and they just charged at the thing.'

'And they disappeared before you managed to talk with them?' a crisp voice of McGonagall asked.

'They didn't Apparate either,' Remus' voice commented, sounding as tired as Tonks'. Were they out hunting Deatheaters last night? Harry wondered. 'They were sort of swallowed by a black whirlwind, but it must have been intentional, because they showed no sign of distress. They left that behind,' he added.

'A black feather?' McGonagall asked. 'What does that mean?'

'I have no idea. I'm not sure that looking into mythology of crows and ravens will reveal anything either,' Remus answered. Harry froze. A raven feather? He immediately remembered the man with golden eyes. Could it be?

'Are you trying to tell me that we have another unknown danger?' McGonagall asked, bringing Harry back to reality. She didn't sound happy. Remus pointed out that they did kill the Deatheater and "the thing" that was with him. 'Yes, but you have no idea why and, furthermore, they did it in Muggle methods,' she added. 'Yet, their transportation method was clearly not Muggle.'

'Can you tell that all to Dumbledore?' Tonks asked. 'We're completely dead after trying to catch them for the whole night. The worst thing is that the Deatheater disappeared without a trace so we cannot even check if they have been anywhere else,' she added.

'I'll let the headmaster know,' McGonagall assured. 'You two go and get some rest.'

Hearing footsteps, Harry flattened himself against the wall. Thankfully, nobody passed next to him and eventually the footsteps faded away in the distance. He slid down the wall, thinking. Two men, leaving behind raven feathers. Why was his mind stubbornly coming back to the image of the golden-eyed man and a red eye gleaming in the darkness?

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**Exceptionally, there will be a week-long break in my updates, sorry!**


	9. Transfiguration

**Back after my little break! Except this chapter, I bring you a new story about Pandora Hearts, very possibly the last thing I will write for a while (of course I'll finish both of the stories in progress). So if you're interested: "Let's just pretend that nothing's broken": ****www fanfiction net / s / 9369757 / 1 /**  


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**Ch. 9: Transfiguration**

Breakfast was the only time when Oz, Alice, Elliot and Leo could meet with Gilbert and Break, which was the only reason why they were always having it in their private common area, rather than in the Great Hall. That and the fact that the breakfast prepared by Gilbert was much better than the one the students ate.

'Good morning,' Oz called cheerfully, emerging from his bedroom to see Reim reading the newspaper to Break and Gilbert, while the latter prepared breakfast. Break looked exactly at him, which was still disturbing, since he couldn't see at all, and grinned. Obviously the trip to London has gone well, Oz thought.

'Good morning,' Gilbert answered, sounding quite happy as well, further reassuring Oz that the two managed to find at least some Chains.

'Will there be meat?' Alice asked, all but bouncing out of her room. 'I learned the animating charm properly,' she added and the fork Gilbert was holding shot out from his hand to do a dance around the lamp hanging from the ceiling.

'There will be no meat,' Gilbert replied with a glare. 'And if you take somebody's eye out with that, there will be no food at all for you, stupid rabbit.'

'I'm not a stupid rabbit, seaweed-head,' Alice shot back, glaring at him while the fork fell on the table with a loud clang. 'You have better made some meat or you will regret it,' she threatened. Oz could smell bacon, but he didn't put it past Gilbert to ask the House Elves to take it away now, just to annoy Alice. He has done that twice already.

'You're free to eat in the Great Hall, they have platters full of bacon,' he replied, not sounding impressed by her threat.

'Seriously, don't you ever stop?' Elliot's voice cut through the hostile silence. 'Alice, if you cannot smell the bacon,' he added. Alice sniffed the air. 'You are more stupid than I ever expected.'

'Says a guy who didn't realise he was an Illegal Contractor until it was almost too late,' Alice shot back, furious to be insulted. Elliot paled at the accusation, probably remembering the terror of finding a seal half-finished on his chest. It was still there, despite him denying the Chain in the last minute possible. Signing a proper contract with Humpty Dumpty didn't erase it, like some had hoped, but it didn't make it worse either.

'Really guys,' Leo sighed. He had arrived unnoticed and was already sitting at the table, next to Break. 'Can't we avoid the screaming this early in the morning?' he asked and both Alice and Elliot sat down on their chairs, although still glaring at each other. Oz took his place as well and Gilbert brought breakfast to the table.

'So how did it go last night?' Elliot asked, back to his serious and official tone. Next to Oz, Alice busied herself with the bacon.

'It depends what you're asking,' Break replied mysteriously. Elliot glared at him, but the white-haired man continued his breakfast unperturbed. Then again, it was not like he could feel the glare, could he?

'We got three Chains,' Gilbert replied, also glaring at Break. The Hatter grinned.

'That's good, right?' Oz asked, wondering why Break said that it depended. However, judging by Gilbert's sigh at his question, it was not really good.

'We managed to talk with the last one a bit,' he said. 'If he didn't lie then it's their leader who found the information about Chains and controls who signs a contract.'

'Isn't their leader that Voldemort guy, who terrorises the whole community?' Leo asked without enthusiasm. Gilbert and Break nodded. 'So you are telling us that we have to bring him down in order to stop the leak of information?'

'It seems that way,' Break confirmed. 'Of course it's open to interpretation, but the last contractor said that he was called for a private audition with his Dark Lord. He more or less described the ritual to contract a Chain illegally although he didn't have the slightest idea what it was that he did.'

'He drank blood without a question?' Alice sounded amazed. 'What kind of people are those Deatheaters?'

'Brainwashed,' Gilbert replied promptly. 'Once he was told that now he has a weapon that will serve his Dark Lord he left and went to kill.'

'And he didn't know how many Deatheaters are contracted,' Elliot guessed.

'On the good side, it seems like Voldemort doesn't like to share, so it's pretty safe to say that he didn't tell anybody what it is that he is doing or how to do it on their own,' Break noted, stabbing his fork into a muffin and eating it.

'I'll try to get some information about Voldemort's whereabouts from the teachers today,' Reim said, getting up from the table. 'Although I don't think it will do any good, they don't seem to know anything,' he added, putting a cloak over his clothes. He has apparently been asked to either wear robes or a cloak over his clothes.

'Be discreet about it,' Break advised him. 'Last night we have probably met members of the Order of the Phoenix and, while they shouldn't have recognised us, they will get suspicious if you go asking about Voldemort immediately after last night.'

'Alright then, I will wait,' Reim agreed. 'I have to go anyway, because the headmaster sent an urgent message for all the teachers to meet. I shall hope now that it has nothing to do with your stunts from last night,' he added, making it sound like he was scolding two kids for misbehaving.

'It is possible that the Slytherin students might know something about Deatheaters,' Elliot said quietly, after Reim has left. 'The way some of them speak about the matter makes it obvious not only that they are sympathetic to Voldemort's cause, but also that their families might be aiding him.'

'It is absolutely too dangerous for you to try to get into their circles,' Gilbert said categorically, earning a glare from his adoptive younger brother. 'Don't make me order you,' he added.

'Don't make me remind you who the Duke of Nightray is,' Elliot shot back. Almost immediately, he winced, probably remembering that Gilbert really wasn't a Nightray after all. However, neither of the adopted brothers was willing to say that out loud it seemed, because Gilbert only frowned at Elliot looked away.

'All the more reason for you to not risk by approaching dangerous people, Duke,' Break pointed out in a delighted tone. 'Now I shall go to sleep because the night spent hiding in London's dark alleys with the charming company of Raven was definitely tiring,' he added, earning a glare from Gilbert. 'While you, my delightful, innocent children, should hurry for your private lesson of Transfiguration I believe.'

'Oh no,' Oz exclaimed, noticing the time. 'If we're late, McGonagall will kill us.'

For some reason, the Transfiguration teacher and the deputy headmistress seemed to particularly dislike them and made it clear that she thought they didn't deserve to be at Hogwarts.

'I'm sure she will not hurt you in the slightest,' Break laughed as they all rushed out of their common room and through their private door out onto the corridor. It was time for students to go to lessons and so all the corridors were full. Oz caught snippets of conversations as he weaved his way between the students.

A Quidditch match was coming up the next weekend and he was looking forward to watching it. Most of the conversations seemed to be centred on the game and who would win and who had the best chances for the Quidditch Cup that year.

'… is worried because she didn't get her weekly package from her father,' he heard and glanced at the Slytherin student who probably spoke the words. Another Slytherin, with whom the student was talking, said something about overreacting, but Oz was already too far to hear it properly.

He didn't have time to wonder, because he reached the classroom where, together with Alice, Leo and Elliot, he had the Transfiguration lessons. He supposed it was the same classroom in which the other students were studying the subject, although McGonagall insisted on giving them private lessons, rather than putting them together with the first year students.

'Good morning, professor,' Oz said politely, taking his seat. The other three did the same, undaunted by McGonagall's glare. She looked at them for a couple of seconds, before sighing and standing up.

'I think you should now be able to attempt a Transfiguration of a simple object,' she said in her usual, unfriendly tone. Oz knew, from Harry, that the first-years started with Transfiguring something on the very first lesson and he wondered if McGonagall wanted to delay their education by going through tons of theory in the beginning.

To annoy the teacher, who seemed to be unhappy that her obvious enmity didn't seem to affect the exchange students, Oz smiled at her brightly. Alice clapped her hands in excitement and McGonagall scowled. Out of nowhere, she produced four black feathers and put one in front of each of them.

As she placed one in front of him, Oz immediately recognised it as a raven's feather. After all he has seen them every time Raven used his Chain to transport them somewhere and that was often. Just as this thought stroke him, he wondered if there was something more to McGonagall's choice of object. Could she have somehow known about Raven's and Hatter's escapade last night? Did she find those feathers in the place from where they left or at which they have arrived?

He fought down the instinct to look at the others. It would do no good and only tell the teacher that the feather bothered him, if that was what she was waiting for. Besides, there was really no reason why it couldn't be a perfectly innocent choice. Didn't Hermione say that one of their first tasks was to transfigure a feather into a needle?

'You are to transfigure this feather into a needle,' McGonagall said in a dry tone after a moment of silence. Oz told himself that the look of disappointment that flitted across her face was just his imagination, while the teacher went back to sit behind her desk, watching them like a hawk.

Looking at the feather was not going to transfigure it, Oz thought dejectedly. Worse, the more he looked the more he thought about Gil and that was surely not a good thing to do on this particular lesson. Especially if McGonagall did suspect something and gave them raven feathers on purpose.

With a sigh, he extended his hand over the feather, closing his eyes and trying to focus on the magical power that he somehow had. Flitwick had taught them to do that, to find the silvery trickle of power deep in their consciousness and draw from it, directing it to do their bidding.

It was easier said than done, Oz had quickly realised, because the B-rabbit didn't seem to appreciate this trickle and sometimes tried to disturb it or block it. Or at least that was the mental image of the situation that Oz had. He knew there was no physical silvery trickle and it was just a projection of his magical powers.

Well, now he needed that trickle to change this black feather into-

'A mini-scythe?' McGonagall's astounded and outraged exclamation called Oz back to reality, where the teacher was glaring at him and his desk in turns. He looked down and, sure enough, under his outstretched hand, in the place of the raven's feather, was a tiny version of B-rabbit's scythe.

He looked back at McGonagall, grateful that her attention was fully on him, because he could just imagine the horrified expressions on the faces of the other three students. Explaining them to McGonagall would be more then problematic.

'I think I might have concentration problems, professor,' he said after a moment of hesitation.

'How would a mini-scythe enter that empty head of yours?' McGonagall growled and Oz remembered that he could only transfigure something into an object that he could somehow, consciously or subconsciously, visualise. He smiled sheepishly to buy some time as he tried to come up with a plausible explanation.

'You see, when I was a kid, my mom would read me this story about a talking mouse that had a mini-scythe like that,' he started, inventing the story as he went. 'The mouse was travelling and one day, she found a raven's feather and-'

'Enough,' McGonagall said. Oz was very grateful, because he had no idea what the mouse would have done with the raven's feather. 'In the future, please refrain from daydreaming about fairy tales and focus on your education,' she said sternly. 'I will inform the headmaster that it has been a mistake to not assign you to any House, since there is no way I can punish you for this mishap.'

Oz didn't think that concentration problems warranted a punishment, but he kept his point of view to himself. McGonagall changed the mini-scythe back into the raven's feather with a flick of her wand and went to look at the progress of the other three. As he closed his eyes again, to focus on a needle, Oz heard her unhappily praising Leo for managing to produce a needle.


	10. The Core of Magic

**Ch. 10: The Core of Magic**

Harry was itching to tell Hermione, Ron and the twins about the conversation he had overheard, about the feathers and his suspicions. However, they never had a moment when they would be alone.

At breakfast there were plenty of other Gryffindors around and Harry didn't want to risk anybody overhearing them or realising that they were using a Muffliato spell. After breakfast, the twins went for their classes, so Harry couldn't tell everybody his revelations and he didn't feel like repeating himself.

That didn't mean that he didn't think about it. Quite the contrary: he didn't hear a single thing that professor Binns said. Not that it was anything exceptional. He usually didn't pay attention to that particular lecture, either because he needed to do something else or because he fell asleep. Hermione was quite possibly the only student in the history of Hogwarts, who actually paid attention during those lessons.

Arriving at lunch, Harry was almost jumping with excitement, which was quickly extinguished when he noticed the twins chatting with none other than the exchange students. There was, of course, no way that he could talk about his suspicions in front of them, so he called up a smile that he hoped didn't look too fake and greeted the whole group cheerfully.

'Oz was just telling us that he thinks McGonagall doesn't like them,' Fred announced, not caring to keep his voice down, earning a somewhat panicked look from Oz. The latter quickly looked around the hall to see if McGonagall wasn't lurking anywhere. Ron laughed and said that McGonagall was just strict.

'No, no,' Elliot said. 'We know a difference between a strict teacher and a teacher who wishes to be anywhere else than in the classroom, we did go to school before, you know,' he added, surprising everybody by the amount of words he spoke at once. Harry noted the small fact in the back of his head. He was about to ask about the school, but Elliot continued. 'She barely even commented when Leo managed to transfigure his feather into a needle.'

'Oh, you're only doing that now?' Hermione asked with some disappointment. 'Didn't we get an owl feather to transfigure into a needle on the first lesson?' she asked, looking at Harry and Ron for confirmation.

'Do you seriously expect us to remember that, Mione?' Ron asked back with some distaste. 'But it's true that we had something to transfigure from lesson one,' he added, probably because Hermione looked ready to scold him for his attitude towards his education.

'Well, we only got a feather now and it was a raven's feather,' Oz commented carelessly. 'Maybe she thought we needed to do all the theory with her before she could let us transfigure anything,' he added and even Harry could say that he didn't believe his own explanation of McGonagall's behaviour. Could it be that the Transfiguration teacher didn't want the exchange students to master her subject? It was an odd thought, however Harry looked at it.

'Oh, so she went from owl to raven,' Hermione noted and wondered out loud if there was any difference between transfiguring one kind of feather or another. Harry, in the meantime, wondered silently if McGonagall had an ulterior motive in giving the exchange students a raven's feather. Could it be that she was suspecting Raven the bodyguard of something as well and she wanted to see if she would get a reaction?

'I thought that McGonagall was a creature of habit,' George laughed. Harry almost missed the slightest of frowns that appeared on Leo's and Elliot's faces for the briefest of moments.

'Raven's feather worked perfectly fine,' Leo commented with a shrug, his face frown-free. He grimaced at Alice's annoyed reply that it might have worked fine for him but not for the others. 'It's not the fault of the feather if you couldn't perform the transfiguration,' he said in a cold tone.

Oz put a calming hand on Alice's shoulder. Still obviously annoyed, the girl turned her attention to her plate, which was, as always, full of meat. She seemed to miss the disapproving glance that Elliot shot her as she started eating, because she didn't comment it in any way.

Times like that, Harry wondered what the relations between the four students exactly were, because they sometimes seemed like they were constantly on the point of exploding into an argument. They never really got into any serious fights, usually because one of the ones not directly involved in the argument-to-be would do or say something calming. On the other hand, other times they seemed like best friends since early childhood. They would share small, internal jokes and knowing glances.

'What are you doing after lunch?' Hermione asked, changing the topic. Somewhat displeased, Leo answered that they were going to the History of Magic with the first-year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs.

'With the first-years?' Fred laughed. He laughed even more when Elliot scowled at him.

'It seems that professor Binns didn't see a problem with that and neither did the headmaster, apparently,' Oz explained, also not sounding extremely enthusiastic about the topic.

'Shouldn't you have some prior knowledge about the History of Magic?' Hermione asked, frowning. 'After all, like you said, you went to school before.'

'It didn't seem to matter to professor Binns,' Leo explained. 'He seems to be under the impression that nobody but him can get it exactly right and definitely not those "crazed islanders", as he so kindly put it,' he added, rolling his eyes.

'That's quite rude,' Hermione noted with surprise. It was true that the ghost teaching History of Magic didn't really seem like somebody to say something like that. To his surprise, the exchange students laughed.

'It's hard to be offended by a ghost,' Leo said with his typical, dreamy smile. 'Besides he apparently remembers before the isolation and talks about our ancestors, so it really doesn't concern us that much,' he added. Harry twitched, eyes widening in realisation: they had a perfect source of information about the Four Great Dukedoms! Hasn't Dumbledore thought about it?

With the corner of his eye, Harry noticed the suspicious look that Elliot was giving him and fought to control his expression. Next to him, Oz continued about how it was weird to sit in the classroom with the small kids and how they didn't understand how Hogwarts' students could fall asleep in class.

'Yeah, we have been told that Hogwarts was the most prestigious wizarding school in Great Britain,' Elliot agreed. He didn't seem impressed when the twins laughed and told him that it was the only wizarding school in Great Britain.

In the end, Harry, Ron and Hermione had to go to their next class before Harry had the opportunity to share his suspicions. Having heard about the feathers only strengthened them and he couldn't wait till he would be able to share them with the others.

It didn't help that their after-lunch lesson was just about as interesting, in Harry's personal opinion and in the opinion of just about everybody except for Hermione, as History of Magic: Core of Magic.

Professor Lunettes gathered the students by forty, meaning that each year had lessons all together, for half a day. They sat in the largest classroom of Hogwarts, or so they have been told, where the audience was formed as a sort of amphitheatre around the large stage.

Nothing much happened on that stage, because professor Lunettes preferred to talk throughout the lecture with no help of pictures or practical demonstrations. It was almost as though he was trying to bore them to death.

As every week, the teacher was already in the classroom when the students filed in, talking animatedly in groups. He watched them settle down with a somewhat absent smile on his face. Harry always wondered if he was the same when he was teaching in the Four Great Dukedoms or if he was making a special effort.

'Now that you have all arrived,' the teacher started and waited till all the conversations hushed. He never raised his voice and never scolded students for misbehaving. He never took away or awarded House Points and sometimes Harry wondered if he even could. 'Last week we finished on the topic of contemporary theories of magical usage and the consequences it has on the balance of the magical field surrounding Earth.'

Professor Lunettes seemed to be a Muggle scientist sometimes. Harry, of course, didn't know much about scientists, but when Professor Lunettes pulled up a blackboard and started scribbling equations that was the image that came to his mind. The teacher had once spent a whole lesson teaching them about electromagnetic and gravitational fields, only to equate them to a "magical field" that might or might not be encompassing the whole planet. Well, that was what Hermione said in any case, because Harry's mind had gone into energy saving mode about three equations into the lecture. Whether or not Professor Lunettes realised that nearly none of the students were listening to him, or understanding what he tried to teach them, Harry had no idea. The man never showed any emotion.

'All that was necessary to begin discussing what magic exactly is and, afterwards, where it comes from,' he continued in the dead silence of the classroom. It was still early enough into the lecture and Harry was actually trying to pay attention, should the man mention some big secrets, so he frowned at the statement. The teacher smiled absently, the expression never quite reaching his eyes.

'I know what you are all thinking,' he stated. 'You are thinking that it is obvious and you have been doing magic since you can remember, but let me ask you this question,' he produced a quill. 'You will agree that it is a pretty mundane object, one that every Muggle could successfully use if they tried and thus not magical.'

'Well done stating the obvious, dude,' Ron muttered next to Harry. Standing behind his desk, Professor Lunettes posed the quill on a piece of parchment and it didn't fall flat onto it.

'However, if I enchant it to take notes of what I say,' he started and the quill scribbled on the parchment. 'Suddenly the quill becomes magical, wouldn't you say so?' he asked and looked at the auditorium. Was he really expecting an answer? Of course a Quick Notes Quill was a magical object. Everybody knew it. 'Or should I ask: is the quill magical now or am I giving it some sort of power or skill?'

Hermione started noting something in her notebook.

'This spell will only last as long as I focus on it and afterwards the quill will become a Muggle, mundane object,' the teacher continued. As if to illustrate his point, the quill fell flat on the parchment. 'So is the quill magical or not?'

Harry had to admit that there was something to think about in that question. However, he found it extremely difficult to focus on the problem. Who cared if the quill was magical or not if it did what the teacher wanted it to do? Did it even matter? And what the hell did this have to do with what the teacher was supposed to be teaching them?

'There are many theories built around answering that question, but we shall not go into them in detail, since the subject of this lecture is but one of them,' Lunettes said and Harry sat up straighter. Was he finally going to tell them what the Core of Magic was? Even Ron seemed to be a tiny bit interested.

However, what followed was a long and complicated discussion about provenance of magical properties of the quill and how it drained the wizard's energy if kept up too long and Harry was nearly asleep when the teacher paused. Ron snored at that particular moment and it was impossible that the teacher didn't hear it because half the students turned to look at the red-head. Harry elbowed him awake, worried that it might have been a bit too much and the teacher's neutral façade would crumble.

'In the heart of the theory that is the most probable lies the Core of Magic,' said Professor Lunettes, completely ignoring Ron's snores. Awake as he was, Harry had no idea where the statement came from. He shouldn't have spaced out because this was obviously the important lecture. 'Some like to think that the Core of Magic is an intrinsic ability of the chosen ones and needs no further explanation. Some think of it as a field surrounding the universe, albeit like gravitational field. Finally, some prefer to see it as a separate dimension, where our laws of physics are void and thus magic is possible.'

'In the following lectures I will present you arguments for the second and third option, because I don't think I need to tell you that the first one is reserved for ignorant fools and has no reflection in reality,' the teacher continued in a lighter tone. Harry wondered if Malfoy would write to complain to his father immediately after the lesson or if he would last till after dinner. 'I will not try to persuade you to either option, because this is a matter still largely under study, however, I would like you all to give it some consideration. Afterwards, we will discuss the reason why only some people are able to draw power from the Core of Magic.'


	11. The spy game

**By the way: thanks to the "guest" (guests?) commenting! Comments make me a happy writer =)**

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**Ch. 11: The spy game**

October gave way to November, with rain pounding down on the ground, destroying the beautiful red and golden colours of autumn, melting them into grey.

Every night, Harry dreamt about the transparent balls, stacked neatly from floor to ceiling, in rows upon rows of shelves. Each night he walked among them, searching for the one. He yearned to touch that one and, with increasing clarity, he realised it was always the same one. He could see it. It had golden flecks inside and an inscription that he couldn't quite read under it. Every night, he tried to read it, every night he searched for answer in the dreams.

He didn't doubt anymore that Voldemort was somehow responsible for those dreams and the yearning was that of Voldemort's. The evil lord wanted something and he wanted it badly. Why was he showing this to Harry, however? Was it a mistake on his part or was it intentional? The lack of answers to those questions stopped Harry from mentioning this to anybody.

Besides, he was supposed to be working to get rid of those visions. Snape pointed that out every week on their sessions from hell, sneering at Harry's impotency in closing his mind off. No, Harry definitely didn't want to face Hermione's disappointment. Instead he tried to focus all his attention on the little spy game that he led, together with Ron, Hermione and the twins.

Every morning, Hermione worried over the black circles under Harry's eyes. He looked away and then changed the topic to whatever it was that he thought up they could do to spy on the exchange students. Extendable ears proved useless, probably because the islanders have put some spells on their private room, soundproofing them efficiently. Trying to overhear conversations inconspicuously didn't work either, because they never discussed anything of interest in public.

Every evening, Harry left the dinner a bit earlier than everybody else. He went to the corridor when a new door had appeared that year: the door to the private dormitory of the islanders. Feeling rotten to spy on his friends like that, he hid under the Invisibility Cloak by that door, trying to follow the exchange students into their dormitory, as they went there after the dinner. They went there every day, leaving their books and then going to the Gryffindor common room a couple of minutes later.

He had yet to succeed, because their private door seemed to close too fast for somebody to be following the students unnoticed. Cursing his bad luck, he went to find a calm place and hid the cloak away, going to the common room and pretending to have gone to the library, if the exchange students happened to arrive in the common room before him.

Every night, Harry couldn't sleep the night through.

Leaning against the window, Harry sighed. Outside the wind howled and heavy raindrops pattered against the glass of the window in an incessant pattern. Inside, regular breaths and occasional snores filled the air and Harry was incredibly jealous for those who were able to rest. Maybe he should talk with somebody?

Tonight's dream has not been about the transparent balls, regretfully. Tonight he has been looking through the snake's eyes at something he couldn't quite explain, a creature unlike anything he had seen. It looked like a crossover between a rag doll and a card, although it was easily towering over the buildings surrounding the alley. It was barely fitting in the space it had available. It had a round head with huge eyes and random stitches, a flat body and two huge arms.

It took Harry a while to realise that the thing was fighting with two Muggles. The Muggles shot at the creature and hacked at it with a sword and it roared and fought back, trying to swipe them into the buildings or squash them. Harry couldn't see their faces, because they were facing the creature. The one with a gun had a black coat and black hair and seemed to be limping. The other one had white hair and white coat and wielded a sword with such fervour that, even not knowing much about white arms, Harry was impressed.

Another man, standing to the side, laughed, getting the attention of the two Muggles. The one with the gun aimed at him, but the creature's hand blocked the bullets. The man shouted something and aimed at the creature again, but the snake focused on the white-haired Muggle. In a split of a second, he was next to the laughing man and beheaded him in one, clean cut. The abysmal creature howled and terrible anger flooded Harry's mind: Voldemort's anger.

Harry woke up, gasping for air, scared and confused. Why would Voldemort watch Muggle fights? Then again, that creature hardly was Muggle, unless it was some video projection or something along those lines. However Harry turned that situation in his head, he couldn't make any sense of it and he gave up, in the end, and simply looked out through the window.

It was still night and he could only see what was lit up by the torches around the castle walls, which was not much. If he leaned really close to the window he saw a part of one of the inner courtyards, bathed in flickering, orange light even on this stormy night.

He blinked. Was that a shadow in the corner? He looked closer and realised that it was not a shadow, or rather, it was: a shadow of two figures, walking along the wall, one leaning against the other. Images from his dream flitted through his head and his breathing hitched. Could that have been those two men? It was impossible to tell at this distance.

He took the decision in a split of a second. Making sure that he knew where the two people would enter the castle, he grabbed his cloak and ran out of the dormitory, down the stairs faster than ever and out of the common room. Once outside, he wrapped the cloak around himself and rushed towards the courtyard entrance, hoping that the two people would be as slow as they seemed to be from the window.

He flattened himself against the closest wall when he heard footsteps: Lupin and Tonks on their usual patrol of the school corridors. They passed by him, talking about something, not noticing the two huddled figures that Harry could see at the entrance of the courtyard.

He went up closer to them, because it was too dark to see their faces and the flickering light didn't help. As Lupin's and Tonks' footsteps faded away, the figures moved soundlessly, entering the castle. One of them, clearly a man, had white hair and, Harry shuddered, red eyes. Well, one red eye was visible. He wore a white coat, now rather dirty and somewhat torn.

'It was those two again,' the white-haired man said. 'Can you walk?' he asked the other. Harry could see that the other figure was only upright because of the arm flung around the shoulders of the white-haired man. All he could see from the person was a black coat and black hair.

'Barely,' the person, sounding also male, whispered. 'It seems the snake was poisonous,' he added with audible effort. Harry stared, nonplussed. Has that man been bitten by Nagini? If so, shouldn't he be dead? After all, Harry had seen in his dreams how fast Nagini's venom worked.

'You should be grateful to be a Baskerville then,' the white-haired man muttered. 'Let's get back before those two make a full turn. I don't think we can hide well enough in this state. Besides, we're dripping, they could hear us,' he added, not sounding overly concerned, but Harry could see worry in his expression.

'They're not that careful,' the black-haired man replied through painful gasps, as he half-limped, half-slid, dragged by the other. Harry could now see that the leg of his trousers was ripped viciously, the bloody mess of a leg visible beneath in the flickering light.

Profiting from the fact that they kept to the wall, Harry walked alongside them, taking care to not make a sound as his bare feet touched the ground. He already had a pretty good idea of who the two were and he was thrilled to finally get his hands on some secrets.

However, to his disappointment, the men didn't talk. Whether it was to save energy or to keep as quiet as possible, after their initial exchange, neither said a word. For the longest time, the only things Harry could hear were pained gasps and laboured breathing. Somehow they managed to make almost no sound with their footsteps and Harry wondered if there was a spell to do that.

Suddenly, they stopped. Harry, busy thinking about footstep-muffling spells, took another step before realising that they were not walking and the white-haired man glared straight at him. A chill went down Harry's spine and he repeated "he cannot see me" in his head, just to not spring away from that intense gaze.

'What-' the black-haired man whispered, cut short by a hushing sound from the other. He straightened himself up a bit.

'Raven,' the white-haired man, who must have been Hatter, whispered, his gaze never leaving Harry. 'Could you please tell me if there is somebody in the corridor with us?' he asked, surprising Harry. If he didn't see anybody, why did he ask Raven to look? Could Raven see through the Invisibility Cloak? The black-haired man slowly raised his head and looked at his partner, before following his gaze with a frown. Golden eyes looked right past Harry.

'I don't see anybody,' he said slowly, quietly. Harry would have breathed a sigh of relief if he wasn't so terrified of the red-eyed gaze.

'I smell somebody,' Hatter said and Harry's heart raced. It didn't help when Raven took out a gun and aimed it exactly where the other one was looking, which happened to be right at Harry's head. With surreal clarity, Harry noticed that Raven's hand was not shaking in the slightest. His heart thudded so loudly in his chest that he was sure they could hear it.

'No, it's not one of them,' Hatter assured his partner, hesitating a bit over the last word. 'But I have smelled that already before. It is one of the students perhaps?'

'Awfully late to be taking a stroll,' Raven growled. Was it Harry's imagination or was he standing more securely on his feet? He couldn't possibly be already recovering from the snake bite. 'Shall I try?' he asked. Harry didn't need clarification to know what he meant by the question. He was paralysed with fear.

'You cannot run in this state, so we better not make too much noise,' Hatter replied calmly, as though that was his only concern in the situation. With another chill running down his spine, Harry realised that those two were indeed extremely dangerous. Bodyguards or not, they were just as well cold-blooded killers.

'I will be able to run,' Raven replied confidently and cocked the gun. The sound echoed in the dark corridor and it snapped Harry out of his panic. He didn't wait to see if Raven would really fire inside the castle. He ran for his life, not caring if they heard him.

He ran as though the hounds of hell were behind him and, in his haste, he crashed a couple of times on the corners, almost losing the cloak. Finally, his legs entangled with the cloak's tissue and he fell with a loud thud and a muffled shout, barely managing to break the fall with his hands and preserve his face.

Panting, he stayed frozen but no footsteps followed him. He moved to sit up, brushing his hands and froze when the most dreaded sound echoed in the corridor: footsteps. He was about to jump up and wrap himself in the cloak properly, a difficult task when his hands were shaking like crazy, but a familiar figure emerged from behind the corner and he sighed in relief.

'Harry?' Remus Lupin asked, his tone a mixture of surprise and worry. 'Harry, are you alright? You look like you saw a ghost.'

Harry found that he couldn't quite talk. He barely remembered to breathe as the reality of the situation crashed against him and he started shaking violently. Staring down the barrel of a gun appeared to be a worse experience than he had ever imagined and it didn't help that it happened at Hogwarts: the only place where Harry had ever felt safe.

'Harry?' Tonks asked worriedly when he didn't reply to Lupin's question. Harry looked up at her and breathed in deeply, trying to calm himself down. When Lupin kneeled in front of him, he all but threw his arms around the man, clutching him tightly, squeezing his eyes shut, deep breathing forgotten.

'You're all shaking, Harry, what is wrong?' Lupin asked, wrapping his arms around Harry firmly but gently.


	12. Alliance

**Ch. 12: Alliance**

Gilbert wasn't particularly surprised to find that the doors out of their private part of the castle wouldn't open in the morning. It meant that last night he and Break have, in fact, met a student somehow rendered completely invisible.

It was a worrying concept, if wizards could disappear entirely.

Last night, they got surprised by a number of regular Deatheaters and a huge snake reinforcing the contracted Deatheater. It must have meant that Voldemort was starting to get suspicious of his contracted Deatheaters disappearing every time he managed to create a new one. Or he was running out of manpower and wanted to protect the ones he had and it wasn't difficult to see that only the contracted ones were targeted.

They managed to dispose of most of the Deatheaters, who did not expect to be shot at or slashed at with a sword and thus were too surprised to offer much of a challenge. Gilbert didn't doubt that the next batch would be more careful, when he noticed one of the men disappearing. He shot at him, but wasn't sure if the bullet reached its target.

Just as he was recharging his gun to look for the Chain and the contractor, a huge snake shot out of the darkness and bit him, retreating as Break slashed at it.

They returned to Hogwarts immediately after getting rid of the Chain and its contractor, because he wasn't sure for how long he would have enough strength to summon Raven and they didn't want to resort to calling Eques out of Break's shadow. It seemed to have been a pointless worry because already on the way from the Forbidden Forest to their rooms, he started feeling better.

If it wasn't for the weird encounter in the corridor, he would have counted the night as mildly successful, but as things were, he only allowed himself a couple of hours of sleep and was the first one up, followed closely by Break.

'How's your leg?' the Hatter asked, getting out of his bedroom. It was amazing how the main room had nine doors and there surely was some magic happening with the rooms' dimensions to fit them around the main room like that. Since doors took most of the space of the walls, letting only enough space to jam in a kitchen niche, the only window was a glass roof, probably put there to let in some daylight. When there was daylight, of course, since now it was just a surface on which the rain drops pattered.

'Getting better,' he replied. 'If I need I can probably pretend that nothing has happened to it,' he added, taking a sip of the coffee. Break went to check the door towards the corridor and found it locked. The same was with the door leading to the Gryffindor dormitory.

'I've checked that already,' Gilbert commented, forcing his tone to be light and careless. 'It seems that we really met somebody in the corridor last night,' he added as Break poured himself coffee.

'How inconvenient,' the Hatter muttered. He sat down next to Gilbert and attacked the cookies viciously. 'They're good. You didn't wake up early enough to bake them, did you?'

'I baked them the previous morning, they keep well,' he replied, taking one as well, not feeling enough energy to busy himself with the breakfast. Reim would do it anyway and he was bound to wake up soon. 'Don't eat everything,' he scolded the other just as the door to Reim's room opened and the man went into the main area, stopping short when he saw Gilbert and Break.

'You've changed already,' he noted. It was true that usually they arrived just before breakfast and didn't even have time to get rid of the wet clothes.

'We've been back early last night,' Break replied with a pleasant smile. 'We'll fill you all in when the kids arrive,' he added and, without further questioning, Reim went to do the breakfast.

Soon the smell of food drew Alice out of her room. She didn't spare a second glance on the adults, but the others seemed surprised as they also joined the table and, when they all arrived, Break quickly summarised the happenings of last night. He was just telling them that the doors outside seemed to be locked when the one leading to the corridor opened, letting in the headmaster Dumbledore, accompanied by professors McGonagall, Snape and Kruspe.

'Good morning, headmaster,' Break said in a cheerful tone. 'To what do we owe the pleasure of seeing you on this fine morning?' he asked. The man ignored him and looked at the kids carefully.

'Children, please go to your classes, I need a private word with your bodyguards,' he said in a tone that he probably expected to be friendly and inviting. Gilbert fought a smirk: the man was in for a nasty surprise.

'Whatever you want to say to our bodyguards, you can say to us as well,' Elliot announced firmly, not making the slightest move to leave the table. Gilbert glanced at the determined expression on the four, young faces and then at the obvious surprise on the faces of Hogwarts' teachers.

'Coffee?' Break asked in the heavy silence that fell.

'Cain, would you be so kind to check if there are no malevolent spells in this room?' the headmaster asked. The teacher replied that he already did and there were none, only the standard anti-surveillance ones. 'And on them? Do they have any evil magic upon them?' Dumbledore asked. Gilbert thought that the teacher's eyes gleamed in excitement and he wondered if Chains projected as "evil magic".

'There is nothing that I can detect,' the teacher said, his eyes lingering on Oz, much to Gilbert's displeasure. Next to the man Snape waved his wand and muttered something that sounded like "accio polyjuice potion", but nothing happened.

'I demand to know what is going on, headmaster,' Reim spoke up. 'Did the wizarding community-'

'What is going on is that those two have threatened a student and thus broke whatever agreements I might have had with the Four Great Dukedoms about your presence here,' Dumbledore didn't let Reim finish. At least he was not pretending to not know anything, Gilbert thought. 'Now you will explain yourselves immediately or I shall send you all to Azkaban.'

'You will not be sending us anywhere, old man,' Break replied, all pretence of friendliness gone from his face and his tone. 'You would do better by scolding that student of yours for wandering corridors where dangers can await. After all, isn't he your most precious weapon?'

Dumbledore looked shocked, which probably meant that Break correctly guessed the identity of the student: Harry "The Boy Who Lived" Potter. The teachers exchanged worried glances.

'That is rich coming from people who wanted to shot him on the spot,' Dumbledore said finally, making Gilbert roll his eyes.

'And you honestly believe I would have shot that brat?' he asked, not bothering to keep irritation out of his voice. 'Who the hell do you take me for?'

'A dangerous person,' McGonagall interjected, but Gilbert didn't bother looking at her. It was obvious that she would do anything Dumbledore asked so he only bothered with him.

'I took you for a bodyguard, now I want the truth,' Dumbledore said after a pointed glare at his deputy. 'Why have you come here? Where did you go last night?'

'Fine,' Break said with a sigh. 'But at least take a seat, I hate looking up like that and I have a feeling this will be a long discussion,' he added in a tone filled with suffering, as though the idea to talk with the teachers was painful. 'Don't worry, we will not attack you, there is no interest for us in doing that,' he prompted when none of the teachers moved.

Finally, Dumbledore waved his wand and a chair appeared behind him. As he sat down, the other three followed his example, taking seats somewhat behind the headmaster, on the opposite side of the table from the islanders. Once they were seated, Dumbledore repeated his questions.

'We are agents of an organisation that you might approximate to your Order of the Phoenix,' Break said simply. Gilbert glanced at him, wondering how much he was going to tell the teachers in order to get them out of the situation without a scratch. In any case, it was better if only one of them did the talking and Gilbert was perfectly content with glaring at the teachers in turns.

'How do you know about the Order?' McGonagall asked immediately, but Break only smiled and told her that Harry "the saviour" Potter had told that to Oz and the rest, among other things. 'What are you doing here? Why the farce with students?'

'We needed a foothold in your society and we needed a way to get information about your way of using magic,' Break replied calmly, devouring a cookie right afterwards. The teachers stared but didn't say anything for the moment, possibly too surprised by his behaviour. 'See, this matter of Voldemort has started bothering the Dukes and they want it resolved, so they sent us here to take care of the situation.'

'Sending two people to take down the Dark Lord? Isn't that a bit pretentious?' Snape asked incredulously. It didn't escape Gilbert's attention that he referred to Voldemort in the same way as the Deatheaters did. Could it be that he was one of them? It made perfect sense to try and insert a spy in the wizarding school. It would also make their work much trickier because now Voldemort would know exactly what they were. Well, as much as they were going to tell those teachers anyway.

'You have a funny way of calling that guy,' Break noted, the hard edge of his voice telling Gilbert that he thought the same. 'Where did you pick it up?' he asked, leaning forward and propping his chin against his hand, smiling a smile that showed a tiny bit too many teeth at the Potions teacher, who recoiled. It was nice to know that Break had that effect on others, besides Gilbert, who took a couple of years to get used to Break's mannerisms and stop being completely freaked out by them.

'So you expect that two of your agents will do what the whole community couldn't?' the headmaster rephrased Snape's question before the latter had time to answer Break. There was a secret there, Gilbert sensed it. They would need to find out who exactly professor Snape was and whether he posed a risk to their mission.

'We kind of expected you to be doing something as well,' Gilbert muttered before he could stop himself, earning three unfriendly glares for his words. Kruspe only looked fascinated in a way one might be engrossed in an insect worth dissection. 'If we knew that we would have to take care of everything, we would have gone about the situation differently,' he added.

'Right, about last night,' Dumbledore changed the topic, as though he remembered what they were supposed to ask in the first place. 'Where were you?'

'In London,' Break answered promptly, looking as though the conversation was starting to bore him. The headmaster scowled slightly at his careless tone.

'What were you doing?'

'Getting rid of Deatheaters.'

'And?' the headmaster prompted, unsatisfied about Break's offhanded answer.

'And?' Break repeated. 'We got rid of them, if that's what you're asking. We don't leave a job unfinished, it's impolite,' he added in a tone one might use to lecture a naughty child.

'We know that you were fighting with some weird creature, what was it?' Dumbledore asked harshly, obviously not appreciating Break's patronising attitude. However, the question itself was more worrying than headmaster's sentiments: how could they possibly know about the Chain?

'Ah, so you don't know either?' Break asked back, mixing just the right amount of disappointment into his careless tone. He should have been an actor. 'We were hoping to be able to find our answers in your vast library,' he added. The headmaster looked convinced, but Gilbert noticed the tiniest of smirks on Kruspe's face and he didn't like it. That man seemed to know more than he was telling and why would he keep secrets from the headmaster? It was another mystery to unravel, now that they were implicating the wizarding society in their little hunt.

'How did you find the Deatheaters?' the headmaster asked, obviously satisfied with the previous answer. It went easier than Gilbert could have hoped for. Break sighed at the question, as though not appreciating it in the slightest.

'We go to London every night and spend the whole night trying to find them,' he said, letting irritation tint his tone this time, as one might have expected from a man who has wasted a lot of his time. 'Last night we got lucky and found some, but what we really would like is to know where Voldemort is, so that we can go and get rid of him,' he added.

'You and me both,' Dumbledore muttered, looking as though he regretted saying those words. 'But how can you call last night lucky if your partner got bitten by Voldemort's snake?' he asked, changing the topic and turning to look at Gilbert, who stiffened hearing the question. If the snake had really been as poisonous as it seemed he shouldn't be alive anymore and he really had hoped to not have to explain that.

'No harm done, so why not call last night lucky?' he asked back, keeping his tone light, despite the dark glare he sent at the headmaster for starting the topic. He had to assume that the Order had somehow observed the whole meeting in the alley and thus knew about the snake-bite. But if they had been there, he wished they had helped rather than watching from safe distance.

'What is a Baskerville?' the man asked without a second of hesitation, very nearly throwing Gilbert off balance. Thankfully, he managed to get his thoughts under control before he betrayed his distress. The existence of Baskervilles was one thing they absolutely didn't plan on sharing with the wizarding community.

He narrowed his eyes at the headmaster, realising that Potter had been listening to them and had followed them last night, rather than just being caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Well in that case, Gilbert hoped that he got a scare of his life for being an annoying brat.

'I suppose you can call it an, ah, honorary title,' he said, carefully keeping his voice free from irony, not wanting the silence to stretch too long after the headmaster's question. Of course, it was not the most convincing reply, especially after the pause, but it was, in a wicked way, quite truthful.

'And this "honorary title" kept you from dying of poisoning?' Snape sneered, not even pretending to believe him.

'You have to fill certain requirements to get it,' he replied, forcing his tone to sound casual, as though he was talking about something unimportant. Again, it was true, even if the requirements were hardly depending on the person. He looked the teacher up and down. 'I don't think you have to worry about it though, so we can leave it as it is,' he added, aiming to annoy the Potions teacher.

It worked, because the man jumped out of his chair, sneering abuse in Gilbert's face, before the headmaster managed to grab his arm and tell him to calm down. Snape fell back onto his chair, glaring daggers at Gilbert, who already regretted his words. He should have known better than to annoy somebody who was potentially dangerous, it was counterproductive.

'I will decide when we leave things as they are,' the headmaster said firmly, turning to glower at Gilbert once Snape was nicely subdued. 'If you think that I will let cold-blooded murderers get away without a good reason, then you are very wrong. You better convince me that I should now send you two to Azkaban, where you belong, and then inform the Dukes about your treatment of their children.'

'Inform the Dukes about their treatment of us?' Leo asked with a mocking laugh, before anybody else had time to speak. It was amazing that the kids had stayed quiet as long as they did, Gilbert thought, unsurprised that Leo spoke up. 'What exactly do you mean by that, old man?' he asked, shocking the teachers of Hogwarts.

'Or do you perhaps think that we were somehow tricked into this situation? That we would not have noticed our bodyguards being gone night after night?' Elliot picked up his friend's track of thought.

So much for not implicating the kids in this mess, Gilbert thought, fully expecting that to have been Break's idea in the beginning. If Dumbledore thought them victims, they would stay in touch with Harry Potter and know more about the society, but if Dumbledore thought they were part of the plot, he would most likely expel them from the school. Still, their vote of confidence did feel nice.

'See, they're actually very annoying brats,' Break noted with a lazy smile, before Oz and Alice had time to add their thoughts on the matter. He sat back in his chair comfortably, looking at the teachers with his unseeing eye. At least they didn't seem to realise that small weakness of theirs, Gilbert thought.

'Watch your mouth, Hatter,' Elliot growled.

'This brings as to another question that we have for you,' the headmaster spoke up while Break and Elliot glared at each other. 'What are your real names?' he asked, obviously getting his mind back on track. He seemed to have gotten over the surprise of getting a glimpse of the kids' true nature.

'I'm Peter Pan and this is Wendy,' Break replied promptly, grinning. Oz snorted and tried to, unsuccessfully, cover it with a cough. Gilbert looked at Break threateningly, but the man continued. 'Isn't Wendy cute?'

'I am going to kill you,' Gilbert growled.

'Hatter, Raven,' Reim sighed, reminding them that they had audience and it was not time for one of their arguments. Break smiled at him innocently, while Gilbert took a deep breath to calm himself.

'This interrogation is over now,' Reim announced firmly, turning to Dumbledore. Everybody looked at him and he continued before the headmaster had the time to protest. 'We have told you everything and have gotten nothing back, even though we've been helping you with your cause. You might not agree with our methods, but I dare say your situation is drastic enough that you have no choice in the matter of allies.'

'Allies?' Dumbledore repeated with disbelief.

'Indeed,' Break laughed, focusing the weary attention of the teachers on himself again. 'Let us work together with your precious little Order and we shall remove Voldemort from the equation, permanently,' he promised with his best, seducing smile.

'You have that kind of power?' Dumbledore asked him very seriously and Gilbert could see that he was tempted by the idea. Snape looked distrustful and hopeful at the same time, while Kruspe's eyes were literally glowing at the promise. Even McGonagall, who has been doing nothing but glaring at them with open animosity, was so interested that she forgot she was supposed to hate them for some reason. Just what the hell was Break planning to do?

'Raven has the power to send him to the deepest pits of hell,' Break replied calmly. It took all of Gilbert's willpower to not react to the statement. Where the hell did the idea of not teaching the wizarding community about the power of the Chains go? He wanted to scream that into Break's face, but all eyes were now on him so he resigned himself to a murderous glare that he knew the Hatter would not see.

He was going to kill that man one day.


	13. Trust issues

**Ch. 13: Trust issues**

Harry was the only one not surprised by the absence of the exchange students or the teacher on the Defence against the Dark Arts lesson. He hasn't said anything about the previous night to neither Ron nor Hermione, because it was enough to relieve both the dream and the encounter with Hatter and Raven once, when he had to tell everything to Dumbledore, Lupin and Tonks.

The latter two wanted to go after the islanders immediately, furious that they dared to threaten Harry, however, Dumbledore pointed out that they were ambassadors of the Four Great Dukedoms and it would do the Order no good to antagonise the other society without a good reason. He promised to talk with them and ensure that they did not go unpunished and then shooed Harry back to his dormitory, where he spent the rest of the night trying to not think.

'I wonder what happened,' Ron mused as they sat on their desks, waiting for the lesson to be over, so that they could go to the next one. 'I kind of started liking those lessons, although I'm a bit apprehensive about this whole "raw magic" deal that we were supposed to start today,' he added.

'I'm surprised you know such a word like "apprehensive", Weasley,' Malfoy sneered, stopping next to them, Crabbe and Goyle in tow.

'Get lost Malfoy,' Harry said, too tired and worried to be properly bothered by the Slytherin student. 'Find somebody else to bother or go and die in a corner,' he added, surprising everybody, including himself. Before anybody could say anything, he grabbed his bag and left, because he didn't feel like having to explain his outburst to Hermione and Ron.

He didn't know where he was going, but it didn't matter, because all he wanted was to be alone somewhere, where he could sleep. He didn't stop until he saw Oz sitting on the ledge of a tall window, alone. The boy looked up at him as Harry froze, unsure of what to do. The brilliant green eyes that were the same colour as his own were full of conflicting emotions even as a genuine smile stretched Oz's lips.

'I was hoping to meet you before they find me,' Oz said, sounding honestly happy. He jumped off the ledge gracefully and took a couple of careful steps towards Harry, who couldn't quite decide if he should back off or not.

'Before they find you?' he repeated finally. Oz rolled his eyes.

'Alice, Elliot and Leo,' he explained. 'We all think that we should not be alone if it can be helped. But I wanted to talk with you and I think it will be more efficient if we are alone, so I'm also happy that Ron and Hermione are not with you,' he added and took another step towards Harry. This time, the Gryffindor took a tentative step back and a hurt expression crossed Oz's face.

'Fair enough,' the boy said with resignation and went back to sit on the ledge, looking at Harry seriously. 'I guess I just wanted you to know that Raven was not going to shoot you. If he would even shoot at all, he would have missed on purpose,' he added and it was too much for Harry. How dared that kid say those things in such a calm tone, as though nothing had happened?

'How would he know where I was, if I was invisible?' Harry yelled, shocked when Oz put a finger to his lips and smiled slightly, instead of answering.

'Hush, Harry. There's a lesson of History of Magic taking place nearby,' he said. 'You don't want to have those students hear about your secrets,' he added, sounding almost amused. Belatedly, Harry realised that he had just betrayed his ability to become invisible to Oz and he regretted his temper. Then again, Oz seemed to have known that Harry was there last night. Harry frowned, realising that nobody should know it has been him under the Invisibility Cloak.

'How did you know that Raven tried to shoot me?' he asked.

'Raven did not try to shoot you,' Oz corrected with a slight hint of annoyance, clearing his throat afterwards. 'Hatter figured out it was you and your headmaster did nothing to try and deny that,' he replied to the question. Harry didn't miss that he said "your headmaster", as though he was not a part of the school.

'Are you going to get expelled?' he asked, wondering if he was happy about it or disappointed. Oz laughed humourlessly.

'I don't think so,' he said. 'For a moment I thought they would send us back but then Hatter told them everything and it seems that we're staying here for a while. I think that Dumbledore hopes to keep us four in the school as some sort of hostages. I suppose you could say that we are leverage for Raven and Hatter, in case they go berserk on the Order,' he explained, laughing humourlessly again. 'Not that they would.'

'Raven and Hatter will be with the Order?' Harry asked incredulously. Something didn't add up in that situation. Sure, he had seen the two fight Deatheaters and sure, Nagini did attack them, but Raven and Hatter working with the Order? Did Dumbledore not see the murderous intent in their eyes?

'Yup, trying to hunt down Voldemort,' Oz confirmed before Harry formed any of his thoughts into a sentence. 'That was more less what they came here for after all. It's still supposed to be a secret though, so I would appreciate if you didn't spread it around,' he added.

'They came here to bring Voldemort down,' Harry repeated, making Oz nod shortly. 'What did you come here for then?' he asked, somewhat satisfied when Oz looked away. He was silent for so long that Harry thought he wouldn't reply, but he spoke eventually.

'To learn,' Oz said simply and looked at Harry with a sad smile. 'Our way to use magic is to harness raw magic and make it do our bidding,' he added, surprising Harry with the frank admission. It was the first time that any of the exchange students were honest about what they did with magic at home and it irked Harry because he knew that Oz was only trying to buy back his trust.

'Show me,' he demanded, but Oz shook his head.

'I am not allowed,' he said. 'I'm not even supposed to be telling you those things and Hatter will have my head if he finds out, but you deserve to be told the truth.'

'That's really rich, coming from somebody who was lying for so many weeks,' Harry seethed and Oz looked away again. He seemed honestly sad about the situation and Harry started to wonder if he even had a choice about it. Could it have been that he was simply sent to Hogwarts with a set of orders to follow?

'The raw magic is not something to be toyed with,' Oz whispered finally. 'You know it only in form of unintentional magic before you learn to control it, we purposefully let it grow strong and spend years learning how to bend it to our will. That is why your Ministry reinforced the isolation.'

'I will not lie to you,' Oz continued. 'We were sent here as a cover for Raven and Hatter, but I came here to learn. Back at home we use no spells while you can do just about everything with a flick of a wand and muttered word.'

'Can't you?' Harry asked. Oz laughed shortly and said that he would not trust the precision of his directions for the raw magic to cut the potatoes or do the dishes. 'So what is this raw magic good for?' Oz shrugged.

'Duelling, protection, loads of things,' he said without much conviction in his voice. He still sounded sad and, when Harry asked about it, he admitted that he had enjoyed having friends at school.

'Back at home,' he said. 'I am the heir to the title and I live in this huge mansion with loads of servants. I mean, I have friends at home of course, I don't want you to think that I'm some sort of pathetic thing,' he amended with a momentary scowl. 'I have Alice, Leo and Elliot and I wouldn't exchange them for the world, even if we argue a lot. But they're not, I mean, they are people who will become my opponents in the government one day,' he trailed off.

Harry did the only thing he could think of, because he hated to see somebody sad like that and he needed to be cheered up himself. He took out his Invisibility Cloak and asked Oz if he wanted to see how Harry could become invisible. The green eyes sparkled in excitement at his words and the awed exclamation, when Harry disappeared from view made the latter laugh.

'This is incredible,' Oz whispered, touching the Cloak gently. 'I didn't know that things like that existed in the world,' he added, his eyes opening even wider when Harry told him that they were extremely rare.

It was almost time for the end of the first lesson of that day.

'How much trouble will you get in if you skip lessons today?' Harry asked on a whim. Oz blinked at him before grinning and saying that there was no point of being the heir of the Vessalius family if he couldn't get out of trouble with it. Harry laughed and wondered if the exchange students ever were afraid of the curfew set for them by Raven or if they all were so sure of themselves.

'Why don't we visit my friend?' he asked. 'He has been away for a while, but he's back now and I'm sure he'll be thrilled to meet you,' he added.

'Can we get out of the castle unnoticed?' Oz asked worriedly, but Harry only looked at him and threw the Cloak over the two of them. 'Awesome.'

'Hush, they can still hear us,' he whispered.

})i({

'So you have sent that kid to placate Harry Potter?' Cain Kruspe asked after a long while of silence. Gilbert glared at him, annoyed at his very presence in their rooms.

'Why were you staying here again?' he asked. Dumbledore, Snape and McGonagall left shortly after Break's proclamation about sending Voldemort into the deepest pits of hell, presumably to consult the members of the Order. Kruspe, however, volunteered to guard them until decisions were made.

'Oz wanted to apologise to Harry Potter for the scare we must have given him last night,' Break said calmly at the same time. 'It is not our fault that he managed to make friends with one of the students,' he added, taking yet another cookie from the table. He glanced at Alice, Leo and Elliot. 'Shouldn't you be going to find Oz before he gets into trouble?' he asked, ignoring the glares from Elliot and Leo. Didn't they remember that Break couldn't see them?

'I'm staying here because I have questions that I didn't want to ask in front of the headmaster,' Cain Kruspe answered Gilbert's question once the door to the room closed behind the students.

'How nice of you to wait for the children to be gone,' Reim said mockingly, making the teacher laugh.

'Please,' he said. 'With the concentration of raw magic around them, none of them are ignorant to the matters I would like to discuss.'

'Concentration of raw magic?' Gilbert repeated doubtfully. Before they left for Hogwarts, Duke Barma told them that Chains could be interpreted as sentient personifications of raw magic and that was what they should say, should they have to explain themselves.

'I talked with Professor Binns recently,' Kruspe said in a conversational tone. 'He's a ghost who has lived before the isolation of the magical community of Hebrides was put in place and he remembers that the wizards there seemed to favour raw magic instead of spells and potions, like we do. Apparently the Ministry considered that too dangerous and although their official reason was the unpredictability of the raw magic, Binns believes it was because the ones who master such magic risk the influence of the dark side of the magic's core.'

'Sounds like a bunch of fairy tales if you ask me,' Break laughed.

'Maybe,' Kruspe agreed easily. 'However, before coming here I have cast a spell on myself, allowing me to see different kinds of magic hovering around. That is how I could judge at a glance if you have cast any malevolent spells in the room or on yourselves but it also allowed me to see raw magic. It's enveloping you all in different degrees and I'm willing to bet that being a Baskerville means you're more adept in manipulating that raw magic than the others,' he finished, glancing at Gilbert.

'You're free to bet whatever you want,' he muttered, not happy about the consequences of those observations. If Voldemort would figure that much as well, they would be in deep trouble next time they would go to meet the Deatheaters. After all, there was a limited amount of times that he could "accidentally" be in the way of a curse shot towards Break. Not that the Hatter needed to know about that.

'Is there any reason why you haven't said all those things in front of the headmaster?' Reim asked quietly, as always going straight to the point.

'It's quite simple I'm afraid,' Kruspe said. 'Sheer curiosity pushed me to omit that detail and, besides, the headmaster asked about malevolent spells, not every kind of magic that was in the room.'

'Let's say for a while that you are correct in your assumptions,' Break said. 'What are you planning to do with that knowledge? I should add that we don't respond well to blackmail and, if your assumptions are correct, threatening the lives of our precious, innocent children will not give you much leverage,' he added, carefully wrapping his words in irony.

'Nothing so crude as blackmail,' Kruspe assured them. 'The headmaster would probably flip if he found out that the fears of the Ministry a hundred years ago have been well founded after all. He might have ordered you removed, imprisoned or killed, although I doubt that he would go that far. However, if you are gone I cannot get what I want from you: information, which is why I have no plans to tell him any of my so-called assumptions.' Break made a face.

'That reminds me too much of Duke Barma,' he said with disgust, making Gilbert roll his eyes. He did have a point though.

'We will not teach you to use raw magic like we do,' Gilbert said firmly. 'If this is your desire than you can go and tell the headmaster all you want and you will never see us again,' he added.

'Disappointing, but maybe I can change your mind eventually,' Kruspe replied neutrally and added that he would content himself with knowing first why they refused to use wands. He admitted that it has been bugging him since the first lesson, when Alice had refused Hermione's wand and proceeded to kick a magical creature with surprising agility.

'Ah, Alice likes to get physical,' Break enthused, probably perfectly aware of how wrong that statement could be understood. 'We haven't heard that she kicked some poor thing in your lesson though,' he added, sounding disappointed when Kruspe didn't take the bait.

The Defence against the Dark Arts teacher told them about Alice pouncing on a creature that was easily twice her size, kicking it between the eyes and then looking surprised when everybody stared at her. It sounded exactly like something that stupid rabbit could do.

'We are infused with raw magic,' Break spoke after a while of silence that followed Kruspe's story.

'Hatter,' both Gilbert and Reim exclaimed in protest, but Break glared at them, silencing them efficiently.

'We use this magic and it uses us in a sort of exclusive relationship, you could say,' he continued, unaware of Kruspe's eager expression. Or was he? One never knew with the Mad Hatter. 'A wand, like everybody here likes to say "chooses the wizard". It has some sort of independency which invades the wizard's magical field to see if they're compatible, at the first encounter, and afterwards, to be used in the most efficient way. The raw magic that we are infused with does not tolerate sharing.'

'It's as simple as that, huh?' Kruspe muttered, looking at Break speculatively. He seemed to be satisfied with the answer. Assuming that Oz had been successful with Harry Potter, they now had two new allies. It wasn't bad as consequences of such a spectacular fiasco, but would either of the wizards actually trust them?

Break's words from many years ago echoed in Gilbert's head: "You don't really need to believe me. You should just use me. Just as I am only going to use you." It seemed like they were back in the game.


	14. Order of the Phoenix

**Ch. 14: Order of the Phoenix**

November became December and snow enveloped everything peacefully. Harry made sure that nobody heard about his little run in with Raven and Hatter and thus nobody had reasons to change their attitudes towards Oz, Alice, Elliot and Leo. The four also seemed unwilling to ever mention the episode and life went on as usual, at least on the surface.

Only now Harry and Oz shared a secret. Harry knew about the raw magic and Oz about the Invisibility Cloak. Somehow, that made Harry feel closer to Oz than ever before and he was glad that he could keep Oz as a friend.

'So what are you doing for Christmas?' Ron asked one day in the middle of the month, when the seven of them were sitting in the Gryffindor common room, enjoying the sweets they bought in Hogsmeade the previous day. 'Are you going back to Hebrides to see your families?' he asked. Oz exchanged somewhat dejected glances with the other three exchange students and Harry got a bad feeling.

'We're staying in Hogwarts,' he said, not sounding enthusiastic about it at all. 'And what about you guys?'

'We're spending Christmas with my family, as usual,' Ron replied, apparently not noticing the gloomy mood of the other four.

Harry wondered if it was Dumbledore's doing. He found out that it has already been a hassle to let the four go to Hogsmeade the previous day. Only when Raven and Hatter had promised to stay with some teachers for the whole day, the exchange students have been allowed to enjoy the wizarding village. Harry didn't like that.

'Aren't you going to visit your parents?' Elliot asked Hermione, who was sitting next to him, sounding genuinely surprised. The girl blushed under his studious gaze and said that she usually spent the Christmas break with the Weasleys and Harry. Harry couldn't hear his answer, nor could he hear Hermione's reply, because Oz asked about wizarding Christmas traditions.

Ron babbled happily about his family's Christmas traditions but Harry could see Oz's wistful expression and he wondered if the islanders missed their homes. Why would Dumbledore not let them go back? Harry had thought that he rather wanted to keep them away so it made no sense.

'Then of course, this year it'll be different, at Grimmaud's Place and all,' Ron finished and Harry stared at him in horror. The red-head realised what he just said and covered his mouth with his hand. Hermione and Elliot finished their private conversation to look at them questioningly, while Alice, Leo and Oz looked simply curious.

'You'll not be at home this year?' Leo asked finally. Hermione seemed to have realised what the problem was, because her eyes widened. 'Is it because of Voldemort?'

'Yeah,' Harry replied, catching a lifeline that Leo had accidentally thrown them. 'Because Voldemort knows that the Weasleys are against him, they cannot stay at home for the moment, so Christmas will also be in the safe location,' he explained.

'Oh,' was all Oz said and the only reaction that Harry got for his revelation. 'But at least you will be with your family and friends, right?'

Harry couldn't stop thinking about that last question. Even when they said goodbye to the exchange students and have arrived at Sirius' place, the phrase echoed in his head: "at least you will be with your family and friends." As he hugged Sirius in greeting and joked about things with him and the twins, the sad expression on Oz's face haunted him.

Eventually, the feelings of guilt for having a good time faded, as Harry was busy, together with Ron, Hermione, Ginny and the twins, trying to spy on the meetings of the Order. Mrs Weasley absolutely opposed the idea that they participate in any of the meetings and shooed them out of the kitchen every time they happened, unaware that they simply used an extendable ear to catch glimpses of the discussions.

They caught enough to know that Raven and Hatter were indeed somehow cooperating with the Order, although under some serious observation from Mad-Eyed Moody, among others. Mrs Weasley, probably having heard the whole story surrounding their admittance into the Order, probably from Lupin, vigorously opposed the inclusion of the two islanders into the group. She railed every time they were supposed to come over.

Harry had yet to see the two men, probably due to her motherly intervention of removing him on time. Not that Harry was looking forward to seeing them, regardless of what Oz had said the other day. They have never mentioned the incident again afterwards. He trusted Oz, in a way, but too often he looked down the barrel of a gun in his nightmares.

'And I'm supposed to cook for them as well,' Mrs Weasley complained, bringing Harry back to reality. He suspected whom she was talking about because even Snape didn't provoke such negative emotions in her anymore.

'Cook for whom, mom?' Ron asked, sitting next to Harry at the kitchen table. It was soon dinner and they were hoping to stall long enough to see who would be attending the evening meeting of the Order. 'Mom, Dean Thomas is making a New Year's party, can we go?' he asked, not waiting for the answer to his first question.

'Dean Thomas is making a New Year's party?' Harry repeated, surprised. Why didn't he know that? Ron looked at him funnily and reminded him about the invitations they have received just before leaving. Sitting opposite to them, reading a book, Hermione glanced up furtively.

'You will not be leaving the safe house, except to go to Hogwarts,' Mrs Weasley replied sharply, all but throwing the potatoes into the sink, washing them with a violent stream of water. Harry blinked at her actions.

'But mom, Hermione is going!' Ron protested and Harry looked at the girl with wide eyes.

'Hermione is going?' Mrs Weasley repeated, looking at the girl as well, surprised. To Harry's astonishment, Hermione blushed under the gaze and muttered something inaudible. 'What was that?'

'Elliot invited me,' she repeated louder, blushing some more and refusing to look up from the book. Harry blinked again, trying to process the idea that the blond islander, acting so cold and formal, would even be going to a party.

'What?' Ron yelled, jumping up from his chair. Mrs Weasley started talking about how dangerous it would be and how Hermione should seriously consider her ideas because Mrs Weasley was going to write to her parents and warn them that allowing Hermione to go was a mistake because Voldemort was lurking.

'It's the night when the Order is planning to lure Voldemort into a trap, so he will be busy otherwise,' Hermione announced promptly in a very matter-of-fact tone, again shocking everybody present in the kitchen.

'Have you been eavesdropping on the meetings again?' Mrs Weasley thundered. 'I will take all those extendable ears and I'll make sure to lock you up in your rooms next time there are people coming! Don't you think that it's for your own good that we are keeping you away from this kind of knowledge?'

'We haven't been eavesdropping,' Hermione lied smoothly, once Mrs Weasley finished her riot. 'Elliot told me about it,' she added. Ron looked about to explode and Mrs Weasley finally found it in her to ask who "Elliot" was, since she didn't remember that name from their stories about school.

'Elliot Nightray, he's one of the exchange students from the Four Great Dukedoms,' Hermione said as calmly as she could and Harry watched Mrs Weasley boil internally. It was only a matter of time before she exploded and Harry was willing to bet it would not be pretty.

'So you are the girl he had mentioned?' asked a voice Harry recognised immediately, stalling Mrs Weasley's explosion. Sure enough, when he turned to the entrance, Hatter was standing there, smiling at Hermione, who blushed yet again. Behind him was Raven, looking pretty emotionless and somewhat bored, even when his golden eyes met Harry's and the latter recoiled.

Did they not recognise him?

'You're early,' Mrs Weasley said, sounding as though she wished to never see them again.

'Ah yeah, sorry for that,' Break said, turning to her with a somewhat creepy smile. 'Our charming escort insisted that we arrive much before everybody else in case we are being followed,' he added in explanation, waving his hand towards Mad-Eyed Moody.

'Hello Mad-Eye,' Mrs Weasley said, much friendlier. 'I do feel sorry for you for being stuck with such a duty,' she added and proceeded to talk to him, completely ignoring the two islanders. Hatter sat down next to Harry, while Raven took a seat as far from him as possible.

'How are you Harry?' Hatter asked suddenly, making Harry jump on his chair. He leaned away from the man, trying to avoid the weird looks that Ron and Hermione were sending them. 'Ah, a bit jumpy,' the Hatter answered his own question and cracked the lollipop between his teeth, the sound making Harry jump on his chair again.

'Give it a break, Hatter,' Raven muttered. For some inexplicable reason, Hatter giggled at the statement, but leaned away from Harry.

'Since you ask so nicely, Raven,' he said. 'So you are the girl Elliot has been seeing in secret?' he asked Hermione, who blushed darker than Ron's hair.

'It was supposed to be in secret,' Hermione pointed out after a moment, seeming to gather herself, glaring at Hatter, when he countered her complaint, saying that she did just admit being invited to the party by Elliot. Harry wondered how Hermione managed to not cower in fear when Raven glared at her briefly.

'Elliot takes this kind of things very seriously,' the black-haired man grumbled, glaring at Hatter, when he joked about how Raven was suddenly overprotective. Harry blinked, his mind trying to make the transition between the cold-blooded killers he had met in the dark corridor and what he was seeing in front of him. What was wrong in that picture?

'Alright kids,' Mrs Weasley said, returning to the room with Lupin and Tonks. She paled when she saw the islanders again and Harry could bet that she was kicking herself for leaving them alone with the two men she deemed almost as dangerous as Voldemort. However, Harry was starting to truly understand that they did not mean him harm.

'Mom, can't we stay?' Ron whined. 'We know now what you are planning so it's not like there's any secrets to be shared,' he argued.

'Just because some people are irresponsible enough to involve children into the Order's business, doesn't mean that I will approve of it,' Mrs Weasley replied, glowering at Hatter and Raven who ignored her completely. 'Out, all three of you,' she shooed them out of the kitchen and slammed the door shut.

'That went well,' Harry heard and looked to see the twins snickering on the stairs.

'But Hermione, we need to discuss your affair choices,' Fred said, sounding and looking so serious that Harry honestly believed his displeasure. Hermione was opening her mouth to reply and, judging from her expression, it was nothing friendly, but George spoke up before she could.

'Yeah, I mean, if you needed a sexy guy in your life why didn't you turn to us?' he asked, almost managing to keep his face as serious as his brother. Ron made a strangled kind of sound, while Hermione stared.

'And we are two,' Fred added. 'Imagine all the possibilities.'

'They're enough to give her nightmares till the end of her life,' Ginny cut in. 'Aren't we forgetting something here?' she asked, reminding them about the reason why they were gathered outside the kitchen. Harry thought he could hear her whisper something to Hermione, something along the lines of "go get him Mione, he's so hot", but he preferred not to think about it too much.

Fred cast a Muffliato-nullifying charm on them and they listened. They have greatly improved the charm, so Harry could be sure that the words he heard were the words actually spoken.

'Besides, how can we be sure that you can handle Voldemort?' somebody inside the kitchen asked. Mad-Eyed Moody, most probably judging by the tone. The sound was a bit distorted though, so Harry couldn't be sure.

'I don't care if you believe me or not, as long as you clear the way,' replied a voice that Harry would never forget. It was calm and collected, like when Raven was telling Hatter that he could run. He almost expected the sound of a gun clicking to follow the statement.

'Awfully self-assured, that man,' Fred or George commented. Ron muttered something about whatever he meant by handling Voldemort. In the kitchen, somebody was listing a number of problems that they would have in setting the trap.

'So you are telling us that you have failed to uphold your end yet again?' asked an annoyed voice, probably belonging to the Hatter. A crack resounded through the room and although Harry immediately thought about a breaking bone it was, most probably, a lollipop. Harry hoped so at least.

'Do you imagine how difficult it is to set up a trap like that?' Lupin asked back, not sounding happy either.

'Do you see me caring?' Hatter asked back and something cracked again at the last syllable. Harry shivered: that guy was a creep. 'If you're afraid of Voldemort try explaining to the Four Dukes why we have failed our mission so far,' he added.

'So we call off the trap?' somebody asked.

'Here goes your date, Hermione,' Harry muttered when Dumbledore answered that it was best because they didn't have the certainty that Voldemort would take the bait.

'What if we hint that Harry is in the Department of Mysteries?' Harry tried to listen closer. What was it about the Department of Mysteries? Did it have anything to do with the dreams about transparent balls that were returning?

'Harry is not a bait,' Dumbledore growled.

'Pity, he would be an efficient one,' Raven said, provoking an eruption of violent arguments.

Harry moved away from the door and looked at the group. They looked back at him questioningly.

'Hermione, you said that you heard about the trap from Elliot?' he asked. The girl nodded, albeit uncertainly. 'I need to talk with them, because maybe they know everything that is happening in those meetings,' he added with determination.


	15. Underage alliance

**Ch. 15: Underage alliance**

Oz looked at the door doubtfully. Its appearance on the wall made him think a bit too much about the Abyss to want to step through. However, as Harry opened the door, it revealed a cosy looking room with a fire merrily crackling in the fireplace and plush armchairs and sofas around it.

With the corner of his eye, he could see that Elliot and Leo were just as apprehensive of the mysterious room. Alice went and sniffed the door before announcing that it smelled alright, getting weird glances from the Gryffindors.

'We better get in before the next patrol comes,' Fred urged them, stepping into the room himself. Already arriving this far in the middle of the night, avoiding the teacher patrols, was quite a feat. Oz watched as absolutely nothing happened to the Weasley twin, but somehow he wasn't any more enthusiastic about entering into a room that could apparently appear and disappear.

'It's called the Room of Requirement,' Hermione said, probably noticing the hesitation of the exchange students. 'It's a one-of-a-kind place that not many people know of. We can comfortably discuss stuff and nobody can find us in this Room, because it replies only to one person, or group, at the time.'

'And it becomes what they wish?' Leo asked. Hermione nodded. 'And once we're inside, can we modify it?' he asked and got another nod. 'Can everybody modify it or just the person who wished it into existence?'

'As far as we know, once you're inside, it will respond to your wishes,' Hermione said. 'You don't even need to speak them, because the Room guesses your thoughts,' she added and an uncomfortable thought crossed Oz's mind. He exchanged worried glances with the other three, for the moment ignoring Ginny's question if everything was alright.

'Like wands that choose the wizard?' Elliot asked, voicing Oz's fear. 'I'm afraid we need to find another place if you guys want to discuss the moves of the Order with us,' he added, not even waiting for the confirmation of his statement. The twins grumbled in annoyance.

'Why?' Ron asked, looking like he didn't understand what was happening. 'The Room is the best place to discuss because it's comfy and we will surely not get disturbed. We can ask it to become a bedroom if we feel like it and we can ask it to bring us maps and stuff, if we need them. It's the only place like that in the whole castle, so it's not like we have that much of a choice either.'

Oz wondered what exactly Ron was expecting from them if he was talking about maps. Did he think they would plan an ambush on Voldemort? Did he want to stalk the Order on their little missions around London? Surely the Gryffindors couldn't be that eager to go into danger. He decided that their task would be even easier than he had ever expected.

'Well then we're out of luck,' Leo told Ron. 'We are not going in there and nothing can change our minds.'

'I don't understand,' Hermione admitted, looking at the four of them in turns. 'If you don't like this Room, fine: we'll find another place. But can we just get in and discuss that before the teacher patrol comes and discovers us here?' she asked.

'It's not about liking this Room or not. If this Room is anything like wand,' Elliot said and paused. 'It hurts me to touch a wand,' he admitted, forcing on a patient tone. 'Oz cannot even do that much. I don't want to experience how it would feel to be immersed completely in a magical field similar to one that a wand creates.'

Oz has been right not wanting to get into the innocently looking sitting room. He felt vaguely sick at the very thought of wands and he stepped away from the still open door, where Fred standing, looking somewhat confused. Hermione looked at Elliot for a long while and then nodded, saying that in that case they better move fast and find one of the unused classroom.

Harry unfolded his amazing map, which showed everybody in the castle: their positions, movements and real names. Oz supposed that one day Harry would realise that the map didn't say "Raven" or "Hatter" and he could only hope that it would say "Gilbert Nightray" and not "Gilbert Baskerville", but for now this hasn't become an issue. Luckily, the map said "Oz Vessalius" for him, sparing him an awful lot of uncomfortable explanations.

'There's a classroom down the corridor,' Harry said, showing them the map. Fred left the Room and closed the door, prompting it to disappear. 'We can get there quickly and I suppose that nobody will hear us because the teachers skip that corridor on their patrols,' he added, pointing at the small dot, marked as Minerva McGonagall, walking in their general direction.

'Uh, meeting McGonagall is not an option,' Alice muttered, also looking at the map. 'If she looks at me with that ugly expression one more time, I will kick her,' she promised. The twins immediately offered her three galleons if she did, but Hermione scolded them and glanced at the map once more before grabbing Elliot's hand and dragging him away, telling the others to follow.

Oz glanced at Leo and they shared a grin at how Elliot's cheeks coloured red when Hermione grabbed his hand in front of everybody else.

'And he's the one that's been making fun of how Raven managed the girls,' Leo whispered to Oz so quietly that nobody, and above all not Elliot, could hear. Oz snickered, already looking forward to all the possibilities of teasing that this blush opened.

They made it to the classroom without meeting McGonagall, much to the disappointment of the twins, who really wanted to see Alice kick her. Oz wasn't sure if it was their dislike for the teacher or desire to see people other than themselves in trouble. He was glad that Alice didn't get to kick the teacher because they couldn't really afford to generate even more enmity than Raven and Hatter already did.

As soon as the door to the classroom closed behind them, Hermione cast a spell soundproofing the room against accidental and intentional eavesdropping. Afterwards, they found some more or less comfortable seats, sitting down in a rough circle. Alice preferred to sit on the desk, like the twins, while the others pulled up chairs.

'So what do you guys want to know?' Oz asked. Upon the arrival of the students after the Christmas break, he had received a message from Harry, asking if they could meet and talk about the Order. Break had been overjoyed. 'We thought that you would be the best informed, since Hatter said that you were living in the headquarters of the Order,' he added, letting his curiosity speak.

'Yeah, but mom is making sure that we don't get to attend the meetings or anything,' Ron grumbled. 'And how is it that you know so much?' he asked.

'Because Raven and Hatter tell us everything,' Leo replied in a slightly mocking tone. 'Or, they do skip the boring details, but we know of the plans and ideas that the Order has, as well as the timing.'

'This is absolutely unfair,' George announced. 'No offence meant guys, but you come from some place that nobody knows a thing about and then you're let in on the biggest secrets? While we are trusted and tested and we are kept in the dark.'

'Because we're underage,' Hermione reminded him. 'I am impressed that Raven and Hatter tell you guys so much when it's obviously dangerous knowledge.'

'It's not like we're going to use it anyway,' Alice pointed out. 'We have no interest in betraying the Order and the only other thing we could do is to go and fight and we're not stupid enough to charge into danger, are we?' she asked. She probably meant her question to be rhetorical, but from the expressions Harry and the others shared, they might have been considering something rash.

'You are not allowed to use this knowledge that we will share with you to do anything dangerous,' Oz amended. Harry smiled at him brightly and said that he didn't need to worry and that they were not stupid.

'So what is in the Department of Mysteries?' Harry asked, not even pretending to go around the subject. It was exactly like Break had predicted and Oz hated what he was about to do, Break's instructions or not. He sighed.

'Many things, but there is one that Voldemort wants to have,' he said quietly. 'Well, that is what Raven had accidentally overheard Dumbledore saying so it's probably true, but we cannot promise you that,' he added, looking away from Harry and Ron who were practically vibrating with excitement.

'Skip the suspense, kid,' Fred called out in annoyance. 'We have enough of that when we try to eavesdrop on the meetings,' he added, getting nods from George and Ginny. Hermione was the only one who seemed to be having second thoughts but Oz wasn't surprised about that: she was, after all, the smartest of them.

'There's a prophecy that Voldemort would like to hear,' Elliot said, his tone as calm and cold as Oz knew his wouldn't be. 'What it is about, we have no idea although it's fairly obvious that Dumbledore knows. It seems to somehow concern Harry Potter and Voldemort's demise,' he added.

The green eyes, that had the same shade as Oz's, sparkled. There was a mix of emotions in them, ranging from anticipation to worry, and Oz looked at his fingers before he spoke again.

'The Order thinks that he will try to lure you in some way, into the rooms where all the prophecies are kept, so that you pick it up for him,' he said. 'They have been considering sending somebody else to draw Voldemort out and confront him, but they're afraid that he won't take the bait,' he added.

'He probably won't, because he will know that it's not me,' Harry replied, focusing everybody's attention on himself. Hermione hissed his name in warning, but he seemed to ignore her. 'Those prophecies, how do they look like?' he asked, but Oz had no idea, so he just shrugged. 'I can bet that they are small, transparent spheres and that the Ministry keeps them stacked on shelves from the floor to the ceiling.'

'Why would you say something like that?' Ron asked. Oz glanced at Leo, who was watching the exchange with some sort of cold amusement that was reserved for those who knew more than anybody should. Did he know the answer to Ron's question?

'I dreamt about it,' Harry replied. 'I dreamt about it and I dreamt that I wanted it, so it's true that Voldemort must want one of those transparent balls,' he added. Oz didn't like what that implied: was there a connection between Harry and Voldemort? It made him think about Echo and Zwei and it still hurt that he didn't manage to save the little girl. Or worse, it made him think about Alice and the Will of Abyss and that trail of thought led directly to a headache and doubts.

'You know what Voldemort thinks,' Elliot stated, eyes widening when Harry nodded. 'Did you tell your headmaster about it?'

'Ah, he knows,' Harry replied, waving his hand dismissively. 'He's been making me have lessons to close off my mind, but Snape is being a pain. But more importantly,' he paused and looked at Oz intently. 'I need you to tell me everything about the Department of Mysteries. I need to know how to get there and how to find the prophecy.'

'Harry,' Hermione protested, at the same time as Fred demanded if Harry didn't hit his head on something. Oz pursed his lips, amazed at how easily Break's plan worked and trying to hide it behind his worry for the student who had become his friend.

'You cannot go there,' he said. 'Voldemort is only waiting for that.'

'Of course, because if I can find out how to remove him, then he's done for,' Harry argued. 'He wants to know before I know, so that he can protect himself, but if I find it first, then I can-'

'Die there, ambushed by the Deatheaters,' Alice cut him coldly. 'I don't particularly care of course, but aren't you a bit too young to throw your life away?' she asked, matching Harry glare for glare.

'You said it yourself,' Harry said, turning back to Oz. 'You said that Voldemort will try to lure me to the Ministry. And you know what? One day he will succeed because he will, I don't know, kidnap Sirius and tell me that if I don't get the prophecy, he will kill him. And Sirius is the only thing I have left of my family and I am not going to let him die for me, so I will go and then I will be ambushed.'

'But if you go on a day when Voldemort is unprepared,' Fred muttered, trailing off. 'You cannot do it alone,' he added, obviously meaning to help Harry. Much to Oz's surprise, George immediately offered to go as well and so did Ron, Ginny and Hermione, although the latter seemed sceptic. The Gryffindors looked at them in expectation. Elliot looked away from Hermione's hopeful gaze.

'You don't expect us to go as well, do you?' Alice asked bluntly, looking at the students in turn. Ron glared at her.

'You don't have to,' Harry replied with a smile that reminded Oz too much of himself. 'But help us plan this thing,' he asked. Oz was about to open his mouth and protest, but Harry continued. 'You have access to the information and together we can make it safe. Together, we can eliminate Voldemort.'

'Raven can eliminate Voldemort instead,' Oz muttered in a feeble attempt to dissuade Harry from his plan. Elliot glanced at him questioningly, probably wondering what Oz was trying to achieve.

'Let's have a plan B then,' Harry replied, undaunted. 'If they manage to get rid of Voldemort before we put our plan together, then it's for the best and I will be very happy. But if they fail or if Raven cannot do it after all, then at least I will know how I can do it,' he added, looking at Oz hopefully and there was only one thing that Oz could say to that. After all, that was what Break wanted.

'Fine,' he said. 'We'll get you all the information we can, but you need to give us time,' he warned. 'We need to ask Raven and Hatter in such a way that they don't suspect anything and we have to give them time to get information out of the Order as well.'

'We're going to do it safely, so we can wait,' Hermione assured him. 'I'll find everything I can about prophecies in the library also, so that we know if there are any precautions to take.'

Harry smiled at them all.


	16. Plans within plans

**Ch. 16: Plans within plans**

Cain Kruspe became a permanent fixture in the room that served as the common area of the islanders. Under the pretence of trying to get information out of them, or keeping an eye on them, he had convinced the headmaster to allow him access to the room, otherwise forbidden to anybody. Only the islanders, Dumbledore and McGonagall, and Kruspe, could step through the door of what the headmaster imagined to be a sort of prison.

Oz didn't particularly mind. He never planned to invite anybody to the only place where he could let his guard down and talk with Gil as though they were friends and not a future duke and a bodyguard. Not to mention that he did appreciate the silence of that room compared to the Great Hall or the Gryffindor common room, or even the corridors and classrooms of the castle. Perhaps he was used to the silence and relative solitude, but the hubbub of the castle was sometimes grating on his nerves.

When they came back from classes, Gilbert was changing the bandages on Break's arm, while the latter was discussing something with Cain. The Defence against the Dark Arts teacher proved to be much nicer than Oz had ever expected, but he still wondered if Break did a good thing telling him all that he did.

'Is it time for dinner already?' Kruspe asked when they arrived. 'I have to meet the headmaster tonight and assure him that I have found nothing extraordinary about you, so we will continue this discussion later,' he added and, saying his goodbyes quickly, left.

'Are you sure that trusting him was a good choice?' Leo asked as soon as the door closed behind the teacher. Break shrugged, wincing when the movement pulled on his wounded arm. According to the man, the Order had yet to realise that he was blind and thus they were amazed that he hasn't ducked that particular curse.

'You're here for dinner?' Gilbert asked, putting away the old bandages and the disinfectant.

'Yeah, since we're meeting with Potter and his little group tonight,' Leo pointed out. 'We wanted to know how the latest mission for the Order went and if you have anything new we can tell to Potter,' he added, sitting down at the table as Reim brought out plates, commenting about how the Order seemed to be testing the limits of the two Pandora agents and how he was starting to get annoyed at that.

'How is it going with your little planning?' Break asked, ignoring Reim's concern, pulling his sleeve down.

'Except for Elliot trying to convince Hermione to not go, it's going as you planned,' Alice replied promptly, glaring at the Duke of Nightray. 'Soon she will start to wonder if there is not more than his concern for the plan behind all that talking,' she added as Elliot glared back at her, refusing to acknowledge the blush on his face.

'Don't you trust my planning, Elliot?' Break asked with a grin. Oz wanted to say that it must have been a rhetorical question but all Break's plans usually worked, so there really was no basis for that statement and Break would call him up on that.

'Do I look like Gilbert?' Elliot asked back immediately, turning to glare at Break. Obviously he was not trusting Break all that much.

'What is that supposed to mean?' Gilbert protested.

'I have found old blueprints of the Ministry in the library,' Reim spoke up, putting the food on the table, before Elliot could reply to his adoptive brother. Break sighed with disappointment, always being one to enjoy arguments. 'They might not be accurate anymore, but they can give you some idea about the distances they have to cross.'

'Because you are not going there,' Gilbert reminded them firmly.

'For somebody who claims that no harm will come to the students, you're awfully insistent on that detail,' Elliot shot back immediately. It seemed like those two were stubborn on having a fight, despite Reim's best intentions. Break propped his head on his hand and smiled.

'The security of those students has nothing to do with the fact that I will not let my little brother and the Duke of Nightray to even step into such a situation,' Gilbert replied. 'You should know well enough that it doesn't take a lot of bad luck to be in the wrong place at the wrong moment.'

'Aw, come on Gil,' Oz interjected, trying to stop the argument. 'You know that Elliot is just worried about his girlfriend,' he added just when Elliot seemed to appreciate his intervention and the Nightray glared at him. Alice giggled around the piece of meat she was devouring.

'Let us know as soon as you have the time-frame for the stunt,' Break reminded them for the thousandth time. 'We need to start arranging it from our side as well, if we want to make sure that everything is in place on time.'

Oz nodded, hating to remember what the whole idea was. He was itching to go with Harry and try to protect him, but he wasn't sure if he was ready to face the wrath of Gilbert and Break afterwards. Besides, they couldn't quite let the Chains be noticed and the only way he knew how to fight was using B-rabbit's powers, so he would be quite pointless.

'Shouldn't you be going for your meeting?' Gilbert asked a moment later and Oz glanced at the clock, jumping out of his chair when he saw the hour.

'Try to burn that map Potter has,' Break called after him, but Oz ignored the words. He knew very well that Harry would never forgive it if his precious map got damaged. There was no way Oz could use it without Harry's supervision, much less put it on fire.

They arrived in the appointed classroom just one minute after the appointed hour. Because they could not use the amazing refuge of the Room of Requirement, they decided to change the meeting place every time, making it more difficult to find, should some teacher get a whiff of their meetings.

'You're late,' Ron scolded them even as Hermione and Elliot smiled at each other. Or maybe he scolded them because Hermione and Elliot always smiled at each other in that shy, cute way. It wasn't difficult to see that he was jealous of the cautious and fragile thing that was growing between his best friend and the exchange student.

For all his and Leo's teasing, Oz was happy for Elliot and he hoped that it would work out between him and Hermione, even if it didn't seem likely. Hermione didn't strike Oz as the type to abandon her life and become the Duchess of Nightray, wrapping her heart and soul in the darkness. He knew that Leo had told Elliot as much already.

'But we know that there are blueprints of the Ministry in the library,' Alice shot back, angrily. As Elliot was growing unbothered by the rude red-head, Alice started to take his place. Everybody stared at her in shock.

'Why didn't I think to check?' Hermione wondered out loud, looking upset at herself. Oz was close enough to the twins to hear their comment about her being busy with guys instead. He snickered with them.

'Fair enough, you're forgiven your lateness,' Fred said.

'Not only did you bring interesting information, but also you managed to outdo Hermione and that is a feat,' George added.

For a while that followed, they went through everything they knew about the access to the Ministry and the possibilities of travelling. Afterwards, they started wondering about a good time to go with the plan and whether there was a point in waiting any longer. With a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, Oz realised that they were close to finalising the plans. Soon they will pick up the time and, even if Oz won't tell Break, Leo or Alice will and Break will start the machinery of his intricate, carefully woven plan.

'Is the Order up to anything new?' Ginny asked when silence fell.

'Oh damn,' Harry interrupted Oz, who was opening his mouth to reply. 'I was talking with Sirius last night and I completely forgot to ask him about stuff like that,' he added. Hermione scolded him for not being careful, even if she sounded like she wished that Sirius realised something was off and raised alarm.

'I've been reading about contemporary history,' said Leo, looking at Harry intently. 'It is written that Sirius Black is a mass murderer. How is it possible that he's a part of the Order if Dumbledore is so much against violence?'

'Sirius is not a mass murderer,' Harry said in a tone that clearly spoke of his annoyance at the very suggestion. He told them how Sirius was the best friend of his parents and his godfather and how he thought he was being smart exchanging places as the Secret Keeper of the Potters. Oz felt sad for the man who had to live with such a burden on his conscience.

'So he hides away in that dreadful place Raven and Hatter said was the headquarters of the Order?' Alice asked, sounding as unconcerned as only she could, faced with such a sad story. Seeing Harry's expression, Oz wished there was a way to explain to Harry that it was Alice's way of coping with sadness. Saying that outright would only embarrass the girl and provoke an argument.

'Exactly how much did Hatter and Raven tell you about that place?' Hermione asked, narrowing her eyes slightly at Alice. Oz fought down a smile, thinking that they told them just about everything that they needed to know, should they ever have to come to the rescue.

'Just that it's a horrible, old house, full of dust and cobwebs and screaming portraits that Raven very nearly shot on their first visit,' the girl answered promptly. 'I would like to see sea-, uh, that guy, annoyed like that,' she added.

'I can't imagine him annoyed,' Ron commented. Oz wondered if they were talking about the same Raven. 'The times we saw him, he was pretty emotionless. Kind of a cold-blooded killer if I ever saw one,' he added. Oz didn't miss Harry's slight shudder. Was he still hung up on that incident in the corridor?

'Did he really? He gets pretty annoyed,' Oz replied, laughing. 'Alice, Elliot and Hatter are the ones that can throw him off balance pretty easily,' he added. Leo snickered.

'So they put him on a mission with somebody that annoys him?' George asked doubtfully and Oz grinned a grin worthy of the Cheshire Cat.

'He's one of the few people who can work with Hatter and restrain their desire to kill the man,' he said. This time both Elliot and Leo snickered, while Alice grumbled about the stupid clown and his stupid ideas.

'Why not send somebody who's more manageable, when you're going to a place where you might upset the diplomatic balance?' Hermione asked. Leo reminded her that there was not much of diplomatic anything to upset yet, while Oz pointed out that Raven and Hatter were the best.

'Good enough to kill Voldemort?' Harry asked, creating a heavy silence. This was not something they wanted to discuss, especially not in detail. However, chance was that Voldemort would take the bait and Harry might see Voldemort's demise, so there was no harm in talking about it a bit.

'Yeah, what was that talking about Raven eliminating Voldemort?' Ron asked. It was obviously a topic that has been bothering the Gryffindors for a while now. Oz glanced at the other three. Alice and Elliot shrugged, while Leo looked away. There was a certain price they had to pay for the trust of the students, after all.

'I don't know what they were saying,' Oz said finally. 'But the core of the trap that did not happen on New Year's Eve was to lure Voldemort out in the open so that Raven could send him to hell,' he explained, unsure on how to elaborate.

'Figuratively of course,' Hermione amended, eyes widening when Oz smirked.

'I think he was going to do it quite literally,' he said, forcing on a careless tone, before becoming more serious. 'It takes a great effort and a talented mind, but one can manipulate the raw magic to open a path to hell and drag a sinner down forever,' he added, ignoring the shiver that ran down his spine at the memories of the cold chains wrapping around him and dragging him down. Alice entwined her fingers with his in a rare display of compassion, reserved almost exclusively for him.

The Gryffindors stared and Oz held their gazes seriously. What he told them was pretty safe, since he was absolutely sure there was no way to open a path to Abyss without a black-winged Chain, no matter how adept a wizard might become in manipulating any kind of magic. What he said was also somewhat true, because contracting one of the black-winged Chains did require talent and using it took effort.

Too late did Oz notice that Hermione was looking more at his and Alice's entwined fingers than at his face. Trust Elliot to pick the smartest girl around, he thought with a mental laugh, wondering if she would ever ask.

'And Raven has that power?' Harry asked, unaware of how adequate his question was. Oz nodded. 'Is it a common power?'

'No, of the people we know only Raven has it,' Leo lied smoothly. 'There are not many who direct their attention into that aspect of raw magic,' he added, somewhat truthfully.


	17. A busy man

**Ch. 17: A busy man**

Albus Dumbledore was a busy man. Between managing the school and, secretively and not so successfully, the Ministry there was little time for worrying. The second rise of Voldemort, which reinstated the Order, meant that he had another organisation to manage, with all the problems that ensued.

As if to make things worse, the Ministry was slipping through his fingers, not believing him that He Who Must Not Be Named was back. Trying to keep his influences required more cunning and work than usual and it was eating away on Dumbledore's time. They also refused to put additional protection in the Department of Mysteries, saying that there was no reason to do so. That meant, of course, that Dumbledore had to stretch the Order even thinner, to ensure that there was somebody at the door every night.

Already stretched thin, between patrolling the castle, trying to get a hold of information and surveying the islanders, the Order was at the point of breaking, like a threat stretched too viciously. If only Dumbledore could remove at least one of the problems, maybe they could manage to go on with some semblance of organisation.

For example, if he could get rid of those potentially dangerous and irritatingly robust islanders, there would be one, big problem less. He had verified their story, or rather as far as verification went when the person who recommended them was the one assuring Dumbledore that Raven and Hatter were Pandora agents charged with the removal of Voldemort. For all Dumbledore knew, they could have made up that cover story before leaving, because they certainly hadn't been in touch. Dumbledore made sure that the floo network was cut from their fireplace.

However, the promise of permanently removing Voldemort was too tempting to simply send away the islanders, especially with the inkling feeling that Tom Riddle might have taken more precautions than originally expected. The diary that pulled the unfortunate Miss Weasley into a horrible mess on her first year was disturbing him more and more often. How did Tom manage to seal a part of his soul away in it?

Could Raven do really get rid of Voldemort permanently?

Despite all those problems, when Severus Snape came with worrying news, Dumbledore found his priorities shifting. The fact that Voldemort seemed to be under the impression that Harry would soon go to the Department of Mysteries to retrieve the prophecy was more than worrying. Additionally, Minerva McGonagall reported repeatedly that Harry kept in close contacts with the islander children, despite the scary run-in with their bodyguards.

Could Harry be plotting something? The very thought sent a chill down Dumbledore's spine and, despite his best judgement, he summoned the boy to his office again. Waiting for his precious student to arrive, he made sure that all the worrying things are hidden away and that his office gave no hints of his current research about Voldemort's soul. After all, if the Dark Lord was expecting Harry to come for the prophecy, there was a chance that he could read Harry's mind.

As the knock on his door echoed in the office, Dumbledore called up his serene smile onto his face and told Harry to get in, greeting him like he always did.

'Good evening, professor,' Harry said politely, sounding somewhat nervous. Was Dumbledore right that he was plotting? It seemed so.

'Please take a seat, Harry,' he said, betraying neither his thoughts nor his worries. 'Would you like a lemon drop?' he asked, somewhat displeased that the candy now only reminded him about that mad Hatter. Harry declined politely, as usual.

'Is there something wrong, professor?' he asked and Dumbledore looked at him carefully, trying to read his expression. With some surprise he found out that he couldn't and it worried him immensely because it meant that Harry was changing and he didn't keep up with the change. He should definitely pay more attention to such a precious tool. Student, such a precious student, he corrected himself angrily.

'Nothing at all, my dear boy,' he assured Harry. 'I was just wondering if there was anything you would like to tell me,' he added.

'No, professor,' Harry replied, not too fast but not too slow either, as though he was expecting the question or really had nothing to hide. Dumbledore doubted that it was the latter. He smiled, despite his worries.

'I have heard that you still are friends with those exchange students,' he said, carefully not betraying his thoughts on the topic. Harry twitched.

'You did say that you were curious about them, professor,' he said slowly. 'I'm trying to get information about them, to answer your question about the wands,' he added. After a moment of thought, Dumbledore nodded, admitting that he was curious about it before.

'Now, however, I have come to believe that they might be too dangerous to hang out with,' he added, watching how an angry emotion crossed Harry's expression. Did he use the wrong words? What stories did those children feed him?

'Because of that thing with Raven and Hatter?' Harry asked and he nodded in reply. 'Oz told me that Raven would have never shot me,' he announced. Sadly, it seemed to be in agreement with Raven's feelings, as far as Dumbledore could say, so there was not much to say about that except:

'Oz told you. And you believe everything that Oz says?' he asked and the same angry expression crossed Harry's face. Something was not right there, Dumbledore thought, biting his tongue before he could continue with his plan of discrediting Oz.

'Not everything, I'm not that stupid,' Harry said coldly. 'Of course they have secrets, just like we also have secrets and that's why professor McGonagall didn't really teach them anything yet and professor Flitwick only teaches them funny, useless spells.'

'What-'

'It's amazing that they're not excluded from Defence against the Dark Arts, considering that professor Kruspe actually does teach us how to duel,' Harry continued, reminding Dumbledore about another of his small issues. He had yet to figure out what Kruspe's aim, behind approaching the islanders like he did, was. 'Not to mention how "we" are treating them, not even letting them go home for Christmas,' he finished with a glare.

Dumbledore bit his tongue before he could say "they requested to stay for Christmas", which was a lie and could easily be disproved. He was impressed at how masterfully Harry had been manipulated into taking the side of the islanders. Could it be that he was simply protective over the ones mistreated? Or could he see his reflection in the green eyes of that damned Vessalius boy that made Dumbledore's skin crawl. There was something off about that child, but he couldn't quite put a finger on it.

Knowing that Harry was waiting for an answer, Dumbledore sighed, stalling.

'I know this is not a nice situation, Harry,' he said finally. 'Sometimes politics call for ugly solutions and we cannot allow them complete freedom and access to our knowledge until we know what their true aims are.'

'To destroy Voldemort, didn't they say that?' Harry asked, frowning when Dumbledore smiled at him patronisingly.

'Sending two people to remove such a notorious wizard?' he asked. 'Do you really believe that Harry? I'm disappointed, I thought that you would know better than to trust the words given to you by people who can't even explain their own magic.'

'Professor Lunettes,' Harry started, but Dumbledore didn't let him finish.

'Is teaching you philosophical babble,' he said and the student stared, surprised by the harsh words. 'Most of the school year is over and what did you get? Another dimension from which magic comes?' he almost laughed derisively, in the last moment remembering himself. 'There is a theory like that indeed, but there is no proof that it might be even probable. It is much more likely that the universe is immersed in a magical field that interacts with those who have the capacity to feel it.'

'Oh,' was all Harry said.

'I'm sorry, Harry, for getting a bit worked up,' Dumbledore said after a moment of silence, smiling at the student again. 'I would like you to be very careful with what you tell to Oz and his friends because I have a feeling that they might use it against you,' he added, raising his hand when Harry opened his mouth. 'I have no proof for those words, just a feeling in my heart that tells me we haven't yet seen everything from them.'

'I'll be careful,' Harry whispered, looking down. Dumbledore smiled wider: a grain of doubt has been sowed and now he only needed to wait for it to grow and bloom. He was sure that the exchange students would sooner or later slip and do something Harry would find suspicious.

'Excellent, now tell me, Harry, how are the Occlumency lessons going?' he asked, remembering that he needed to make sure that Voldemort could not read Harry's mind. When Harry didn't look up at him immediately, he was overcome with a foreboding feeling.

'Professor Snape is being very difficult about them,' the boy mumbled finally and Dumbledore made a mental note to scold the man: yet another thing to do that day. 'He thinks that I'm helpless anyway, so I don't see why I should bother.'

'You should "bother", Harry, because it is infinitely important that Voldemort cannot enter your head and get, for example, the details about the Order, so that he can finish off the members one by one,' he said, choosing the threat he considered the most efficient. It seemed to work, because Harry looked at him with panic. 'Please do your best to learn Occlumency,' he added and Harry nodded.

He finished the discussion soon afterwards, to busy himself with the other issue he wanted to solve that day: the reports from an impromptu encounter with a Deatheater and a "thing", for the lack of better description. Mad-Eye has been out with the islanders, trying to follow a person the Order suspected of aiding Voldemort, when something attacked them. Mad-Eye has been kind enough to provide Dumbledore with his memory from the encounter and the headmaster was planning to watch it again and consider the implications of what he could see.

The memory started from the appearance of a creature, unlike anything else Dumbledore had ever seen. It was a worm-like creature, bigger than a house and equipped with multiple eyes and, weirdly enough, a hand. However, it wasn't its appearance that drew Dumbledore's attention but the short glance that Hatter and Raven shared before springing into action, ignoring Mad-Eye's warning. They barely even looked surprised at the thing.

They also seemed to know what they were doing, Raven emptying his gun into the creature, while Hatter ran towards the masked person that Mad-Eye only noticed when his head rolled on the ground, losing the mask. As the creature wailed and sank into the asphalt, together with the decapitated man, Raven reloaded his gun and Hatter calmly walked back to him, sheathing his sword. They ignored Mad-Eye's questions, when the Auror finally regained his speaking capacity, and the memory finished.

Remembering Harry's description of the creature that he had seen Raven and Hatter fight in his dream, Dumbledore wondered what it was that Voldemort had discovered. It was clear that this was some sort of a new weapon and Dumbledore was worried, because he had never heard of anything similar. Yet, the two islanders seemed to know, he thought. Could they have known about those creatures before they have arrived here? Could they have anything to do with the appearance of those creatures?

What if Voldemort stole some secrets from the islanders? Dumbledore wouldn't put it past the greedy lord. In that case, wouldn't it seem logical that Raven and Hatter have not been sent to dispose of Voldemort but to clean up the mess and conduct damage control? Yet, they have offered to remove Voldemort as though it had been a part of their plan from the very beginning.

Of course, if Voldemort stole their secrets, it only seemed logical to remove him permanently, but what secrets could he have stolen? Could those creatures be the way islanders used their raw magic? Was animating some sort of imaginary creature really worth the effort? If that was the case then sending two men who didn't command such magic against those who did sounded reckless. Or did Raven and Hatter command some sort of horrifying creatures and were just waiting to unleash them in the appropriate moment?

There were too many things he didn't know, too many variables, he decided, gritting his teeth. For the first time in his life, he considered sending somebody on a suicide mission, to remove some of the danger. Then again, he didn't really have a suicide mission handy and Raven and Hatter did know what to do with those creatures. Until he got the truth out of them, he couldn't dispose of them.

He shivered at his own cruelty, quietly hoping that he will manage to retain his humanity throughout this conflict.


	18. The grain of doubt

**Ch. 18: The grain of doubt**

Dumbledore's words stayed with Harry. Could the headmaster be right? Could it be that the exchange students were only using them to get something? What? Lost in thoughts, he bumped into Hermione, who blushed promptly, stammering apologies in a completely un-Hermione-like style.

'It's alright, Mione,' he said, straightening his clothes, when she wouldn't stop apologising. 'I didn't even fall and neither did you, so no harm done,' he laughed, wondering about the blush.

'You're right, I'm completely overreacting,' she said and started at him, before repeating: 'I'm completely overreacting. What has gotten into me?' Harry frowned.

'Are you quite alright, Hermione?' he asked with some concern. 'Where have you been at this hour?' he added because it was nearly curfew and the direction from which Hermione arrived was not the library. To his surprise, Hermione blushed more at the question, which was just as good as an answer.

'I swear Harry, if you laugh, I'm going to hex you into next week,' she threatened, noticing Harry's expression. 'And yes, I was meeting with Elliot. You can be gleeful about it all you want later, together with the twins,' she added almost aggressively.

'Whoa, Hermione, you don't sound all that happy after that meeting,' Harry noted, all trace of humour gone. If Elliot did anything to hurt Hermione, Harry was going to hurt him badly.

'We had a rather serious conversation,' she admitted quietly, pulling Harry's sleeve, so that they went on towards the Gryffindor tower. 'It's late, we don't want to be caught by anybody,' she added in terms of explanation.

'He was bugging you about not going with us again?' Harry asked knowingly and the words Dumbledore spoke to him echoed in his head: "we haven't yet seen everything from them". Did Elliot know that their escapade to the Department of Mysteries would be dangerous and he was trying to protect Hermione? But how could Oz, the gentlest of all people, be involved in something potentially harmful? And what could it be? After all, Harry had seen Raven and Hatter fight Deatheaters so the islanders couldn't be in league with Voldemort.

'Not really actually,' Hermione replied with a sigh. 'Well, he asked me not to go, but I think he's kind of resigned to the fact that I will,' she paused. 'He mentioned that the school year was finishing and that they most hopefully wouldn't be returning after the summer,' she said.

'Just them or Raven and Hatter as well?' Harry asked. Hermione looked at him, blinking for a moment, before the tiniest of smiles lit her face and her blush intensified slightly.

'You know, Harry, I'm not exactly thinking about Raven and Hatter when I'm talking with Elliot,' she pointed out. 'I didn't ask. Why do you care?'

'Well, if they aim to kill Voldemort, or, uh, send him to hell, then I suppose they count on doing that before the summer,' he said. 'I suppose Elliot knows what are their plans, so if he included them in that statement, then maybe there's something new planned that we are not aware of,' he added. Dumbledore's doubts wouldn't leave him be.

'Now that you say it, I suppose it's true,' Hermione muttered and sighed again and Harry realised that there really was something bothering her.

'So they don't come back, is that what bothers you so much?' he asked. He wasn't sure if he understood, but if Hermione did care about that guy then Harry supposed she would miss him. 'He can come to visit,' he suggested, but Hermione shook her head.

'I'm not sure if it's that easy,' she said. There was something she was hiding. 'He said that he would be thrilled if I went with them instead,' she whispered so quietly that Harry barely heard her. His eyes widened.

'Hermione,' he exclaimed. 'Would you?'

'He even said that he could wait for me to finish Hogwarts if that was my wish,' she muttered, ignoring his question. All that sounded awfully final and grown-up to Harry and he wasn't sure what to make out of the conversation. 'I'm sorry,' Hermione said louder, looking at him with a bright and fake smile. 'I shouldn't bother you with those things, we have more important matters to discuss,' she added.

'Not at all, you're not bothering me,' he protested. 'If I can do anything to help you or if you want me to talk with Elliot or something, just tell me.'

'Could you please not mention it to Ron?' she asked and Harry understood her reasons without asking. 'I'm pretty sure I'm not going to go, because Elliot says that if I do, there might not be a way back and I don't think I'm old enough to make those kind of decisions,' she added. Harry noted that she didn't say she would stay for sure.

They walked in silence for a couple of minutes and Harry tried to process everything he has just heard from his best friend. Elliot wanted her to come and stay with him? Forever? A thought struck him and he stopped, staring at Hermione, who looked at him questioningly.

'Hermione, did he ask you to marry him?' he asked. He fully expected her to laugh at him and ask if he had been reading any girly books recently. She didn't. She kind of smirked though and he could see that she was flattered by Elliot's advances.

'Not outright,' she said finally. 'I think he's way too shy for that. But he is a Duke, uh, well a future Duke anyway, it's not like he can have a girlfriend and fool around,' she added. Again she was hiding something and Harry wondered if Elliot had shared some secrets, however, as her words sank in, he forgot everything.

'You're fifteen,' he exclaimed and this time she laughed out and told him to forget everything she has told him. He wanted to protest because there was no way he would be able to forget that kind of news, but she went on. He had no choice but to follow and they reached the portrait leading to the common room in no time.

Neville was sitting there, under the portrait, looking miserable. He looked up at them happily, but then his eyes narrowed and Harry had a vague idea of what his thoughts were, especially since Hermione was still blushing a bit and had that weird smile on her face.

'Let me guess,' Hermione said happily. 'You forgot the password.'

'Is this really something to be that happy about?' Neville asked grumpily and she immediately apologised. She promptly gave the password to the portrait and they entered the common room, which was mostly empty.

'Harry, Hermione,' Ron exclaimed. 'Finally you're here, we have, uh, hi Neville,' he trailed off awkwardly. The boy in question eyed the group, with which Ron was sitting, unhappily and Harry briefly thought that he was jealous to not be included.

'Don't worry, Ron, I'm going,' Neville said in a somewhat dejected tone. He didn't wait for reassurances that he was welcomed and Harry felt incredibly guilty that none were coming.

'Where have you guys been?' Ron asked. Hermione somehow managed to not blush more, but Harry still wondered whether Ron ignored Elliot's absence or didn't make the connection. The twins grinned at their younger brother, obviously having realised where Hermione might have been, or rather with whom.

'Dumbledore was bothering me about being careful,' Harry muttered unhappily. He wasn't even sure why he didn't lie, since Leo, Alice and Oz could hear him. He did trust them nearly as much as he trusted Ron and Hermione and it suddenly struck him that he didn't know them all that well. He felt weird with those thoughts, so he asked Ron what were the big news were.

'The Order will be on the move soon,' Ron announced. Harry glanced at Oz, Alice and Leo, knowing that it was them providing the information. Could they be lying? But to what end? 'This is our chance, because it'll be the only time when the person from the Order won't be guarding the Department of Mysteries in near future. If we don't do it until holidays, we'll not manage to get there till the next year,' Ron added. He sounded eager and completely convinced, but Harry couldn't help thinking that it was convenient to have a precise date for their escapade.

'Where will the Order be?' he demanded, looking straight at the exchange students, surprising everybody by the harsh tone of his voice. Alice, frowning, opened her mouth, but Oz put a hand on her shoulder, silencing her. Why did he do that? Was it because she would complain about Harry's tone or because she could say something that Harry was not meant to hear?

'Professor Snape brought information about some sort of Deatheater meeting that is supposed to take a place at a relatively unguarded location. Voldemort is not supposed to be there, but plenty of his followers will,' Oz said in a calm and serious tone. He didn't look like he was lying and Harry found it hard to resist those green eyes. Ron muttered something about issues with trusting Snape and Harry wondered if there was anybody they could trust anymore.

'According to Hatter, the Order will try to crash the party and arrest all the participants,' Leo added, making a weird face when he said "arrest". 'Because it's such a big event, they plan to pull back everybody they can and gather them for the task.'

'That is awfully convenient,' Harry muttered. 'Also when we're done with planning and only need to remove that one person from guarding the door,' he added. Leo and Oz frowned and the latter asked if there was a problem. Harry wondered what the answer to that question was.

'This is boring,' Alice announced, getting up. 'I'm going to bed,' she added and left without another word. Harry watched her go, wondering how in the world she was ever going to become a Duchess with manners like that. She didn't fit into any picture he could imagine of an heir to a noble family.

'If you don't trust us, there is nothing we can do to prove our words,' Oz said in the most serious tone Harry had ever heard him use. 'Raven and Hatter are already getting suspicious of our desire for details and they only know what the Order chooses to tell them anyway,' he added, irritation creeping into his voice at the last words. Leo muttered something scornful about the treatment their friends were receiving at the Order meetings.

Oz proceeded to tell them everything they knew in a cold and detached manner. When he was done, both he and Leo got up at the same instant and wished the Gryffindors a good night before leaving. Harry watched them leave, thinking that they were upset by his obvious doubts. Was it because they were honest all the time and it hurt to be doubted? Or was it a part of their act?

'What happened, Harry?' Hermione asked when the door closed behind Leo. Everybody looked at him and he sighed.

'Dumbledore thinks that we shouldn't trust them,' he said and summarised his conversation with the headmaster. 'I don't know what they would gain by sending us into a trap, but I cannot stop thinking now,' he admitted.

'Let's see what information they gave us,' Hermione suggested. They had the blueprints from the library, so that was safe. They knew about the watch in front of the department as much from the information from Oz as from Harry's dreams. They knew that Voldemort wanted a prophecy, but they didn't know what the prophecy was, unless they trusted what Oz had told them.

'They give us loads of details on the movements of the Order,' Fred pointed out. 'We have no way to check those, unless we ask Sirius.'

'But if we ask Sirius, then we'll have to tell him where we got those ideas from,' George countered. Harry bit his lip.

'Let's just be cautious, alright?' he suggested thoughtfully, thoughts formulating as he spoke. 'If the Order really is on the move in two nights, then we should try to get moving then as well, but let's not tell Oz and the others that. Let's make them believe that we can't make up our minds as to whether we should trust them or not,' he added. Hermione looked doubtful, but everybody else agreed.

As they continued planning, Harry kept wondering if he was making the right choice. Every time his eyes crossed Hermione's, he could see the inner turmoil reflected in her gaze. It reminded him about Elliot and he couldn't help thinking that the islanders were trying to steal his best friend. Were they also trying to set up a trap on him?

He wished he hadn't talked with Dumbledore.


	19. Puzzle pieces

**Ch. 19: Puzzle pieces**

They did like Harry has asked them. The day following Harry's meeting with Dumbledore, Harry told Oz, during lunch, that they weren't sure if they should go, because it seemed too good to be true. He ignored Alice saying that those things sometimes happened, in favour of observing Oz's reaction. Something alien flickered in Oz's eyes for the briefest moment, but the boy said that he understood and smiled, although somewhat bitterly.

It took until the evening of that day for Harry to realise that Oz understood much more than Harry had actually voiced. The exchange students made no attempt to sit with them that evening in the common room. They went to their rooms immediately after dinner without as much as acknowledging Harry, although he hadn't missed the look Elliot had given Hermione: regretful. He hadn't missed Hermione's sad smile either.

Despite that being what he had wanted, Harry felt horrible. Dumbledore's words forgotten, he could only think how fun it was to chat with the islanders and how much the four kids have helped him, even though they really didn't have to. They were friends and he had rejected them because of some disgusting suspicions.

It was too late, however, as Hermione coldly told him when he expressed his doubts. Harry was not sure if she was upset at him or not. She didn't give him time to wonder, reminding him that they had an escapade to plan.

As they planned their moves for the following night, Harry couldn't help feeling as though somebody was watching him. He went as far as looking around carefully a couple of times, worrying the others with his behaviour. However, there was nobody watching. The exchange students were not even there and all the other Gryffindors were ignoring the small Weasley group as they have started doing this year. Harry even started wondering if it could have been Voldemort reading his mind, but he discarded that thought because it was too frightful. Voldemort was busy with other things for sure.

No matter what he did or told himself, the feeling of being observed didn't leave him until the very end of the day. In comparison, even dreaming again about the prophecy didn't seem all that bad. Since they started planning their stunt, the dreams changed their angle: instead of seeing the room with prophecies, wishing to touch one, he was dreaming about going there with his friends. Every night it was different. This time, it was simply him in the room, picking up a transparent ball and hearing it whisper to him.

When he woke up in the morning, he was grateful for the dream. At least it wasn't like one night, when he had dreamt that he was in the Ministry with Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville and Luna. Why Neville and Luna, instead if the twins, Harry had no idea. In that dream, they were ambushed by the Deatheaters and Sirius died, falling through a door, that Harry somehow knew, led to hell. When he had woken up from that dream, he had almost called the whole thing off.

It had taken him a couple of days to recover and he only managed by telling himself that it couldn't become true, because Neville and Luna will not be there with them. Consequently, dreaming about picking up the sphere made him rather happy instead of worried and, since the feeling of being observed was gone, Harry had a good feeling about the day. It would be the day when they would go to the Ministry and find out how to destroy Voldemort.

Sitting through lessons and eating were the last things on his mind, but Hermione said it was essential that they keep the appearances up. If the teachers think that something is wrong, or the students get a wind of their plan, they might be stopped. Thus, Harry suffered through the day, nearly vibrating with excitement as he entered the common room after being kept by Dean and Seamus for far too long at the dinner table.

The twins were already there, laughing about something with their friends. Surprisingly, Oz and Elliot were there as well, playing chess, with Alice cheering on Oz. When Harry looked closer, he also saw Leo sitting with Neville in a corner, a large book opened on the table next to them and Neville obviously explaining something. Immediately suspicions at their presence, he sat down next to Ron.

'I asked Leo and he said that Dumbledore kicked them out because he wanted "a private word" with Raven and Hatter,' Ron said before Harry even had the time to ask. 'I also thought it was suspicious when they have arrived a couple of minutes ago,' he added.

'I would have thought that Raven and Hatter would be with the Order tonight,' Harry muttered, wondering if the islanders have lied to them after all. He didn't like the thought, but it would have excused his behaviour.

'I asked the same, but apparently Dumbledore doesn't trust those two to restrain themselves from killing the enemy. It seems they are quite brutal,' Ron replied promptly. Harry didn't doubt that, but it was not the time to say it. 'But more importantly, how shall we go about leaving the common room?' he asked.

'Unnoticed,' Harry replied with a smile. He saw the twins saying betting somebody that they could cast a spell on Snape and escape unnoticed. The bet was quickly concluded and the two left the common room. Hermione and Ginny were nowhere to be seen, probably already waiting outside.

Suddenly, Elliot cursed loudly and Oz laughed, efficiently drawing the attention of most of the students gathered in the common room. Did they do it on purpose? Harry couldn't help that thought when Alice told everybody that Oz would surely win, prompting the students to take bets.

'Let's go, Ron,' Harry said, deciding to not question the sudden strike of luck. As they reached the portrait, Harry glanced back to see if everybody was still busy with the chess game. He almost missed Neville looking up at him, but now it was too late to go back. He put a finger to his lips and Neville blinked.

Off they were.

})i({

Gilbert glared at the headmaster of Hogwarts hatefully. Couldn't that man really choose a different day to be grilling them about the Chains and Deatheaters and what their true aim was? Next to him, Break was calmly answering the questions, feeding the man the previously agreed-on lies.

They had promised Oz that the Gryffindors would be safe, but there was always a margin of danger and the longer that annoying man was here, the larger that margin became. It took a lot of effort to pretend to not have worries and just glare at the headmaster.

'Why would they send only two people?' Dumbledore asked for what seemed to a millionth time that day. Gilbert rolled his eyes, itching to answer that they were seven and, should need arise, they would all get to serious work.

'Haven't we already answered that?' Break asked back in a careless, almost bored tone. 'This is becoming annoying Albus. Can I call you "Albus"?' he asked, looking like a picture of innocence. Dumbledore looked ready to explode.

'We're wasting time here,' he said. Gilbert agreed with him wholeheartedly. Right now, Harry Potter was probably on the way to London and there was a large gathering of Deatheaters easy to mobilise at a moment's notice.

All that was, of course, a part of Break's plan. Luring Harry Potter to be a bait for Voldemort was easier than Gilbert had ever imagined. It almost seemed like the boy had a death-wish or absolutely no sense of danger. Or, Gilbert thought unwillingly, he was exactly like Oz, always worrying too much about others, when he should be taking care of himself.

Discovering that Voldemort could read Harry Potter's mind made their job much easier, since they didn't need to bother to let the Dark Lord know when Harry was going to make his move. The man reacted predictably: by ordering his Deatheaters to gather somewhere under a false pretence. That way they were easily accessible and ready to fight and, if nothing happened, Voldemort didn't look like a fool, because they met for something else entirely.

That was what Break said, in any case. It seemed to happen like that also, because Snape reported to the Order that the Deatheaters would be having a meeting. Whether Break was right about the rest of his assumptions, they would know soon. Hopefully, Gilbert thought, with another glare at the headmaster.

'Of course we are wasting time,' Break replied in a sweet tone. 'But it is you who insisted that we don't go with the others,' he added. It was the icing on the cake that the Order decided to take out the Deatheaters and thus Oz could supply Harry with a convenient date for retrieving the prophecy.

Harry's sudden suspicions didn't matter, because the information has been conveyed. Miss Sharon, observing the boy from his shadow, reported that they would go to the Ministry, despite having told Oz otherwise. If anything, this was even better, because like that, if something happened to his friends, Harry couldn't blame Oz or the other exchange students.

The only problem was that the Order needed to realise what was happening soon, because Gilbert really did not want to face Elliot after something happened to that girlfriend of his. Not that he wanted something to happen to any of the kids, who were just innocent bystanders, unfortunately involved in something they should not be.

'You do not expect me to trust you, when you hold so many secrets, do you?' the headmaster asked. 'What are those creatures?' he tried again and again Break answered the same: "personifications of raw magic".

'This is nonsense,' Dumbledore growled. 'There is no such thing as personifications of raw magic and you know that very well. There is no such thing as "raw magic" to start with, at least not to the degree that it could be so powerful.'

'Isn't that magical field of yours raw magic?' Reim countered, speaking up for the first time since the headmaster entered their room and chased the kids away. 'Is this really so difficult to consider that you might not understand everything about magic?'

'And I suppose you do,' Dumbledore growled. This was getting nowhere, since they never planned on showing proof to the man and since they would never call Chains "raw magic" anyway.

Suddenly, before the headmaster could continue or Reim could excuse himself, a wisp of white fog materialised in the room and transformed into a ghostly figure of a doe. Dumbledore froze with a frightened expression.

'The Deatheaters are moving,' the doe said in Snape's voice and Gilbert couldn't stop himself from jumping up in surprise. 'The Dark Lord has called us.'

'What the hell was that?' Gilbert demanded when the doe dissolved. Dumbledore seemed to be shell-shocked, but Gilbert knew they didn't have time to lose. This was the weakest point of the plan. 'Dumbledore,' he called harshly, snapping the man out of his trance. 'What was that?'

'That was a sign of danger,' Dumbledore replied, surprisingly obedient. 'Voldemort had some other plan for this meeting. Is this a trap?'

'But if it was a trap, wouldn't your people rather be faced with armed and prepared Deatheaters, rather than those guys leaving?' Break asked, sounding like he was honestly considering the possibility. Where the hell was somebody panicked, saying that Potter and his friends left the castle? As though on cue, the door opened with a bang and McGonagall charged into the room. In the corridor behind her, Gilbert could see a scared looking student.

'Mr Longbottom thinks that some students might have sneaked out of the castle,' she said breathlessly. 'He saw them crossing the grounds,' she added. Dumbledore looked ready to faint. Thankfully nobody was paying attention to him, because Gilbert wasn't sure if he was able to school his face into an appropriate expression. It was essential that they don't bring any suspicions to themselves in that delicate moment.

'This is bad, Minerva,' Dumbledore whispered. 'Severus just told me that the Deatheaters are on the move and if Harry has gone to the Department of Mysteries,' he trailed off. 'Call everybody from the Order and tell them to go to the Ministry.'

'Albus,' McGonagall whispered, but he urged her to go and turned to Gilbert and Break.

'It seems that you will get your action after all,' he said disdainfully. Did he really think that they enjoyed killing? 'If the Deatheaters are headed for the Ministry and if Harry is as well, then maybe they bring those monsters with them. You are to make sure that those things don't kill a single student, is that understood?'

'Crystal clear,' Gilbert growled at him. He had no intention of telling Dumbledore that their priorities lay somewhere else on this one. After all, the lives of all those contractors, if there still were any left, were limited.

'You will need to get us there, headmaster, since we don't know how to Apparate,' Break pointed out with a creepy smile. Dumbledore turned to McGonagall and told her to send the message to the Order immediately, ordering them to go to the Ministry at once. He and the two islanders would go directly and wait for them there.

'Fawkes,' he called afterwards and a beautiful bird flew into the room, singing. 'He'll take us out of the wards, so that we can Apparate directly into the Ministry,' he informed them. 'Please hold my hand,' he added, opening the window with a flick of his wand.

Break looked positively gleeful. We are going to fly through the window, Gilbert thought. Getting a firm hold of the old man's hand and ignoring Break clinging to him excitedly, he closed his eyes. This better be worth the sacrifice.


	20. Ministry of Magic

**Ch. 20: Ministry of Magic**

Apparating, Gilbert discovered, was nothing like travelling with Raven. It was weird, uncomfortable, even if he didn't count Break all but hugging him, and made him feel vaguely sick. He almost fell upon landing, Break's weight not helping the situation, but he managed to right them on time. He didn't appreciate the idea of falling down in front of the wizard.

'Dumbledore,' somebody called as Gilbert was trying to regain his bearings. They must be in the Ministry, he figured, and the relative silence told him that they didn't materialise in the same place as the Deatheaters, which probably was good.

'That was disgusting,' Break muttered with distaste, letting go of Gilbert and straightening his clothes. The latter looked up to see a large hall, lined with human-sized fireplaces on one side. It looked weird at best.

The man who called Dumbledore was running up to them from a small group gathered a couple of meters to the right. They were no more than ten. Even considering the meagre numbers of the Order, this was disappointing. As Gilbert watched, another person popped into existence, then one more. They were still very few.

'We think that the Deatheaters are already here,' the man, whom Gilbert has seen before in the Order meetings, said somewhat breathlessly.

'Well then what are you waiting for here?' Gilbert asked, knowing that he sounded genuinely concerned. He was concerned because the longer they waited the more probable it was that he would break his promise to Oz. The man glared at him for daring to speak and looked back at Dumbledore.

'Is everybody here?' the headmaster asked, even though it was obvious they weren't. The man started listing off the people who they were still waiting for, adding comments about whether or not he expected them to arrive or not. It was a horrible waste of time in Gilbert's mind and he was not sure how the headmaster could be so relaxed.

'Raven,' Break said quietly, effectively calming him. Looking at his partner, he was reminded that he needed to make sure this guy didn't get hit by a spell as well. 'Headmaster,' Break spoke to Dumbledore calmly. 'I believe we are wasting our time here, while Harry Potter could be in serious danger, if he really is here like you suspect.'

'Focus on your task, Hatter and don't tell me how to deal with mine,' the headmaster replied with hostility and turned to the member of the Order, telling him that they should move in immediately, leaving one person here to send in the others. Gilbert knew that Break wanted to hit the man, but he didn't.

'Let's focus on our task, Raven,' he paraphrased Dumbledore's words, as though reminding Gilbert of their agreed strategy. A part of Gilbert hoped that Voldemort would not be there, because he wasn't really looking forward to using Raven's power to send him into the Abyss. He would much rather simply shot the man, but Dumbledore insisted that parts of Voldemort's soul were detached from his body and would continue living in that case.

He followed Dumbledore and the members of the Order as they ran towards the Department of Mysteries. He listened to the words they exchanged, deciding who should go where and do what, knowing that Break was doing the same.

Arriving to a large hall, he noticed three things immediately: the lack of Chains, the presence of Voldemort and a cold pull of a door to the Abyss. Searching for the latter, he noticed an arch with a veil, standing in the middle of the room. It was unmistakably the door and, he realised with some horror, it was open.

The Deatheaters were surprisingly few but outnumbered the members of the Order approximately two to one. They paused in their attack on the six students, huddled together near the wall. At least they were still standing, Gilbert noted. It was difficult to assess their state since many spells left no physical injury. They were all protecting Harry Potter in a remarkable show of sacrifice.

'Get going, Hatter,' he hissed at the man just as Voldemort turned to look at him. The unnatural face that missed its nose made him shiver, but didn't stop him from cocking the gun and aiming it at the closest Deatheater. Break needed time to draw an outline of the circle that would hopefully immobilise the Dark Lord.

Gilbert's gesture seemed to snap the Deatheaters out of their stupor. No less than five wands aimed at his chest and he hoped he could take whatever they would throw at him because if he moved the spells might hit Break, who was surely too focused on his task to hear the faint swish of the light on time.

'What are you waiting for?' Voldemort's voice hissed through the silence. His gaze never left Gilbert. 'Get me that prophecy,' he added at the same time as Dumbledore yelled at the kids to move and get out of the room.

Many things happened at the same time. Bursts of light erupted around the room, aiming in all directions. Somebody yelled in pain. Only one Deatheater flung a curse at Gilbert, dying from a bullet to the head before the latter stumbled with a gasp as the curse hit him painfully.

'Harry,' Dumbledore panted to his right. He was making his way towards the kids, but was stopped by a Deatheater who attacked him. Recovering from the curse, Gilbert aimed at another of the Deatheaters, too aware that Voldemort was still looking at him and Break. Could he know what they were going to do? But if he did, why didn't he order them killed?

He shot, eliminating another enemy without hesitation. Voldemort laughed, ignoring the fighting that was going on around him. A woman with crazy hair and a crazed expression, standing next to the Dark Lord, glanced at him and then at Gilbert, raising her wand. Voldemort put a hand on her shoulder and said something Gilbert couldn't hear over the shouts.

'Hatter,' he hissed, not turning to look at his partner. He aimed at the woman, who was now glaring at him hatefully. Voldemort moved towards him and the woman followed a couple of steps behind. What the hell was that man thinking? Gilbert wasn't sure if he wanted to know the answer, pointing his gun to the man and the woman in turns. Who to shot first?

'Almost there, my impatient, little Raven,' Break replied in a sing-song voice, as though they were having a coffee, rather than being in a middle of a violent fight.

'Hermione, watch out,' somebody shouted to his right and Gilbert turned to see a Deatheater aiming a wand at the girl. She was, together with the other kids, much closer to him than before, obviously trying to get to the door that was behind him. She turned towards the person who shouted and Gilbert knew that she wouldn't be able to duck on time. He shot.

Hermione screamed as blood splattered onto her. Harry stared at Gilbert with a mix of horror and disbelief, but he ignored the gaze. It was probably similar to his own expression when he had killed for the first time, but that has been years ago.

'Get out of here you stupid kids,' he yelled, killing another Deatheater who aimed his wand at Elliot's girlfriend, determined to get her out of the room alive for the sake of his younger brother.

'Such a cruel mind,' hissed Voldemort's voice way too close and Gilbert turned back to look at the man who was about halfway through the room. How was it that he even heard the man through the racket of cast spells and screams?

'Such a dark soul you have, Gilbert,' the man hissed. Gilbert's hand trembled momentarily, before he gripped the gun tighter. That man was reading his mind, he thought, slightly panicked. 'Indeed I am. And I can help you. I can grant you the power to protect those you hold dear.'

In the last moment, Gilbert saw somebody pointing a wand just behind him. Break, he thought and shot without hesitation. Voldemort complimented his marksmanship, but he just gritted his teeth and ignored the words that, he knew now, were echoing in his head.

He stumbled and gasped in pain as a spell hit him.

'The power you have is truly extraordinary,' Voldemort hissed, now speaking normally, since he was close enough for Gilbert to hear. 'Do you know that the first curse that hit you tonight should have rendered you unconscious?' he asked. Gilbert didn't care. 'This one just now should have brought you incredible pain.'

'Break,' he yelled, forgetting about the codename because Voldemort was so close he was now touching the gun aimed at his chest. It took all of Gilbert's willpower to not shoot the terrifying man in front of him with the last bullet. It took all of his willpower to not turn around and run from that cold and cruel gaze.

'Go,' Break said behind him and Gilbert took a couple of tentative steps back, not daring to lose sight on the man in front of him.

'Are you afraid, Gilbert?' Voldemort asked with a cold smile, stepping forward to maintain the distance. He was afraid of course: who would not be afraid of that man? He took another step back. 'If you join me-'

Voldemort never got to finish his sentence. As he took the last step, Break knocked on the ground with his sheathed sword. A luminous circle, inscribed with a powerful spell, appeared around Voldemort, who collapsed to his knees with a pained scream.

'What is this magic?' Voldemort yelled. Everybody in the room seemed to freeze, shocked at the sight of the most dangerous wizard kneeling in front of Gilbert. With a deep breath to calm his wrecked nerves somewhat, Gilbert took off the glove from his left hand. Even as he extended his hand towards the wizard, he couldn't quite believe he was going to do that.

Forgetting about everything and everybody around, Gilbert put his hand against the head of the man he was about to sentence to a fate worse than death. He did his best to not shiver as he touched him, realising that Voldemort's forehead was already colder than a living body should be.

He ignored Voldemort's questions and avoided his eyes, taking a deep breath.

'Tom Marvolo Riddle,' he started, having learnt the name of the evil wizard beforehand. 'I, who bear the Chain of conviction, shall now pass judgement upon you,' he said, forcing his tone to stay calm and firm. Were the words really necessary? He didn't know, but that was the only way he knew to do it, the only way he has ever seen it done.

Black feathers swished in the air and he knew that Raven was behind him, visible to everybody. Damn Break for making him do this, he thought absentmindedly. Explaining Raven will be a pain.

'Your sin is your greed to seize the Abyss for yourself,' he proclaimed, the words supplied to him by Raven. Voldemort yelled as chains shot out from the ground, wrapping around his arms and legs, around his neck and torso. He tried to claw them away, shouting incoherently, but they tightened and pulled and then, in a flash of light, he was gone.

Gilbert inhaled shakily. He has done it. His mind was blank, except for the echoing thought: he has done it. In the dead silence of the hall, he let his hand fall to his side, numb and feeling nearly as tired as when he had first used his Chain. He has done it.

'No,' somebody wailed sorrowfully and he looked up to see the crazed woman with wild hair. She was right in front of him and she pointed a wand at him before he had time to process the fact that his right hand still held the gun with one bullet inside. She yelled words he didn't understand and a jet of green light shot at him.

Shit, was the only thing he had time to think, as the green hit him, before everything turned black.

})i({

As the gleaming circle showed around Voldemort, Harry felt weirdly weak. His head filled with fright and confusion and he realised that they were Voldemort's feelings. His own fear added to those feelings when a huge raven appeared behind Raven, with a skull instead of a head and with chains that looked as though they were restricting the thing. What the hell was that?

With a corner of his eye, Harry could see Hatter standing next to him with a small smile on his lips. Did that man enjoy watching this? With a strangled gasp, Harry realised that this was nothing else than a public execution. How could the Hatter smile?

'Your sin is your greed to seize the Abyss for yourself,' Raven said in a cold tone that sent a violent chill down Harry's spine. A pained shout escaped Harry as chains from nowhere wrapped tightly around Voldemort. The Dark Lord was so scared! This was going to be his end and Harry saw it as clearly as Voldemort did. He shouted in pain again, feeling as though a part of him was being ripped out, but it was drowned by Voldemort's helpless roar.

He stumbled as the blinding light exploded where Voldemort was. When he could see again, the Dark Lord was no more. The enormous bird was also gone and only Raven was standing in front of a fading gleam of a circle on the ground, looking almost surprised at what he has done. There was a while of shocked silence, broken by Bellatrix's sorrowful wail.

Standing close to them, Harry could see everything more clearly than he would have wished to: the fatal jet of green light hitting Raven square on the chest and the man's surprise, even though he was actually looking at Bellatrix when she cast her curse. As Raven's body hit the ground with a dull thud, Harry could see surprise flicker on Hatter's previously smug face, quickly replaced by a frown. However, he didn't have the time to process the situation, because Bellatrix's attack snapped everybody out of their shock.

The demented woman was laughing through her tears, flinging curses left and right, not caring what they hit. Three, hideous creatures appeared in the room, roaring, and Harry saw the Order focus their efforts on them, leaving them open for the attack from the remaining Deatheaters. Almost immediately, two wizards fell, hit by evil spells. This was bad, Harry though, because the only people who really knew how to fight those things were-

Harry didn't finish that thought, because, as he turned, he saw Hatter kneeling next to Raven whom Harry knew to be dead. The knowledge hurt more than he expected it would. He clutched the prophecy that was the reason for this mess. Somebody pulled his hand, and he turned to look at Hermione, her expression a mix of horror and sadness.

'We have to get out of here, Harry,' she said urgently. Behind her, the twins, Ron and Ginny were being evacuated by a very worried looking Arthur Weasley, who was all but carrying Fred. Sirius appeared out of nowhere and pushed Harry towards the exit, saying stuff about being safer outside.

Suddenly, Hatter jumped up and, in blindingly fast moves, reached Bellatrix and beheaded her with a snarl, avenging his partner. Harry gagged as he watched the head roll on the floor towards him, leaving a trace of blood. Hatter didn't seem to care in the slightest. He didn't even look as Bellatrix's body crumbled in front of him, hitting the ground with the same thud as Raven's did minutes before.

Sirius pushed Harry towards the entrance again, but they were both distracted again, when something appeared over Hatter's head. "Something" was the best description Harry could muster. It was a shadow, vaguely shaped like a cloak, topped with a decorated hat. The three hideous creatures cowered as the shadow opened a red eye. Something exploded.

'Take cover,' somebody shouted and Sirius flung himself over Harry, blocking most of his vision and cracking Harry's head against the floor, glasses flying away. His vision hazy, Harry thought he could see a dark shape nearing him, but crashes sounding everywhere around distracted him to look up. The ground shook as something particularly heavy collided with it, with a sound of a stone hitting against a stone. Dust filled Harry's lungs and he coughed.

More collisions sounded, smaller but just as frightening. Somebody screamed, the sound cut short with a wet kind of splash. Something next to Harry cracked, like a lollipop or a broken bone. Somebody coughed. Something smashed into Harry, knocking the air from his lungs.

Everything went black.


	21. Aftermath

**Ch. 21: Aftermath**

With a pained groan, Gilbert opened his eyes and blinked a shocked face, looking at him, into focus. That hurt, he thought, not sure if he meant the green curse or the pieces of ceiling falling down. That damned Hatter thought that he could fling whatever he wanted at him and he would survive, because he was a Baskerville.

'Sir, can you hear me?' he heard and focused again on the stranger that was pulling out a wand. Get that thing away from me, he thought.

The cold pull of the Abyss was not present anymore and Gilbert turned his head to where he knew the door was. Or, he should say, the door should have been, because there was now a huge chunk of ceiling lying cracked on the floor. Whatever was left of the door was not enough to open onto the Abyss. Break must have destroyed it with Mad Hatter.

'Yeah, I hear you,' he mumbled and sat up gingerly, despite the protests of the man, who claimed that Gilbert shouldn't be able to move yet, that there might be internal injuries, that bleeding this or that. It was true that just about every part of his body was hurting, but he wouldn't let that stop him, would he?

Ignoring the wizard for a moment, Gilbert rubbed the back of his head delicately, where the pain was the sharpest. He winced at the wet feeling under his fingers. He didn't need to see the blood on his fingers to know what it was, but his skull seemed to be intact, so no worries, right? What a mess, he thought, wiping his hand on his coat and standing up.

'Please don't get up yet,' the wizard shouted, jumping up and holding Gilbert upright when he stumbled. A wave of dizziness passed slowly. 'Let me-'

'Shut up,' he growled. He looked around. Hermione Granger was looking at him with a frightened expression, but otherwise seemed to be alright. Harry Potter seemed to be alive, since there was somebody waving a wand over him, trapped under what surely was a dead body, if the piece of ceiling lying bloodied next to them was any indication. He couldn't see the other four, but he had to assume they were alright. This only left one worry.

The green curse, or the ceiling, left him rather unsteady on his feet and sort of on the verge of consciousness. However, he willed him to ignore it and he went towards the fallen figure of Break, which thankfully wasn't far. Already at this distance, he nearly lost his balance twice, due to sudden attacks of dizziness.

'You never know when to stop, do you?' he asked quietly, surprising the witch that was leaning over his friend. She looked up at him and said that she didn't think this man would survive. Gilbert told her, not so politely, what he thought about her diagnosis.

Dumbledore, who was up as though nothing had happened, casting spells on the Deatheaters who were showing signs of life, stopped and glared at him. Gilbert didn't have the strength to glare back, so he ignored the man and kneeled next to Hatter, as much to check up on the man as to not fall. He was relieved to find a weak pulse under the ice-cold skin.

'Please move, we have to Apparate him to the hospital,' the witch said.

'Like hell you are Apparating him anywhere,' he growled, not moving the slightest. 'This hellish thing is sure to kill him,' he added, turning to Dumbledore and demanding that the anti-apparition wards at Hogwarts are lifted. The headmaster glared at him.

'How do you even know that there are anti-apparition wards if you cannot Apparate?' the headmaster snapped at him. 'And how are you still alive?' he added. The witch asked him to reason with Gilbert, because the patient was in serious need of medical attention.

'Remove the damn wards,' Gilbert growled, completely ignoring the witch. He blinked away the sudden dizziness, hoping that the headmaster would cave in soon. Next to him, Break groaned painfully and coughed up more blood. 'Stupid Hatter,' he muttered, unable to keep worry from his voice.

Whether it was Break's pathetic state or something else, Gilbert didn't know, but Dumbledore whispered a spell and a ghostly version of his phoenix appeared in front of him.

'Tell Minerva to take down the anti-apparition wards,' Dumbledore said to the ghostly shape. 'We are coming home,' he added and, as the shape disappeared, he looked past Gilbert. 'Miss Granger, please tell Arthur that he should Apparate his children to Hogwarts,' he said. Afterwards, he turned to somebody else and asked about Harry Potter. Gilbert didn't bother to listen to the reply. He was busy fighting against the dizziness that was threatening to overcome him. That green spell sure was problematic, he thought.

He shuddered involuntarily as a ghostly cat appeared close to him and hissed. This place sure was hell, he thought, watching warily how the cat walked past him towards Dumbledore.

'The wards are down for ten minutes, Albus,' said McGonagall's voice. It figures that this hateful woman has such a horrible thing as her ghostly-whatever, he thought, ignoring the rest of the message.

Raven, take us to Reim, he thought. It didn't matter anymore if anybody saw him, because, quite frankly, a replacement of Apparition could hardly be more shocking than what he did before. He breathed a sigh of relief as the black whirlwind enveloped him and Break and gently removed them from the Ministry of Magic. When the whirlwind was gone, he had just enough time to see five very worried faces before he lost consciousness. This time, however, he welcomed the soothing black.

})i({

Drifting through the dark, Harry slowly became aware of hushed voices somewhere to his right. They sounded soothing, so he focused on them, trying to figure out who was talking and what about.

The girl sounded a lot like Hermione, Harry thought, willing his eyes to open. Was he in the hospital wing? He frowned and turned his head to the right, to see Hermione, sitting on the bed with Elliot and Leo, saying something in a hushed voice. She had a bruise on her cheek and scratches on her hands and Harry wondered what had happened. Something must have happened for him to be in the hospital wing after all, he reasoned, frowning.

As he tried to remember, Hermione glanced at him briefly. He smiled when she snapped back to look at him, eyes widening as she jumped off the bed with a small wince. Was she hurt somewhere?

'How are you Harry?' she asked, sounding worried and relieved at the same time. 'Is anything hurting?' Harry blinked at her a couple of times.

'I don't particularly feel anything,' he admitted finally, his voice slightly hoarse. Was he out for long? 'What happened, Hermione? Where is Ron?' he asked, watching her frown momentarily.

'You don't remember our terrible trip to the Ministry?' she asked back and memories flooded Harry. The twins Apparating them to the Ministry from beyond the ward borders, getting the prophecy and then the Deatheaters-

'The prophecy, Hermione, where is the prophecy?' he asked, trying to get up, but she restrained him, putting a hand against his chest and gently but firmly pressing him back onto the bed. She went to sit back on the other bed, to not block out Elliot and Leo.

'Dumbledore took it, saying that it wasn't necessary, now that Voldemort was gone,' she said calmly.

'Voldemort is-' Harry cut himself off, remembering Voldemort disappearing, dragged into the floor by chains. He swallowed remembering Raven dying right afterwards and glanced at Elliot and Leo, ready to say comforting words. However, the two didn't seem to be particularly sad and Harry frowned. Didn't they care?

'We are lucky that Neville saw us cross the grounds and alerted McGonagall,' Hermione added, focusing Harry's attention on herself. 'If the Order hadn't appeared when they did, I'm not sure if we would be here, having this conversation.'

'Right, but like that everybody is alright,' Harry agreed, watching Hermione bite her lip and glance at Elliot. So maybe they care, Harry thought. 'I meant,' he started and trailed off because he didn't know what to say.

'There are some casualties after the ceiling collapsed,' Hermione said, saving Harry from his dilemma. He blinked at her and repeated the last two words. 'Yeah, they don't know what happened yet, but the ceiling collapsed, completely destroying that weird arch that was there and hurting loads of people.'

In a flash of memory, Harry heard a warning and remembered the weight of Sirius on top of him, protecting him from the results of the explosion. And then- He gasped.

'Hermione, what about Sirius?' he asked, trying to get up again. Hermione jumped off the bed and pushed him flat on the bed again, saying that Sirius was alive, although in a serious condition.

'He is in St. Mungo's,' she added, sitting on the bed to the right when Harry stopped trying to get up. 'A part of the ceiling fell on you and he suffered the most of it, but you still have two broken legs. Probably on the mend, thanks to Madam Pomfrey,' she amended with a small smile.

'What about Ron and the rest?' Harry asked, afraid to get the answer, but Hermione's smile widened and Harry felt a weight lift from his chest.

'Mr Weasley managed to get the twins, Ginny and Ron out of the hall before the ceiling collapsed. He was also the one, who called help,' she paused. 'Fred and Ron, however, still suffered from the curses they received before the Order showed up. They will be alright, but they're sleeping a lot,' she added, nodding forward. Harry turned and, on the left side of his bed, he could see Ron, sleeping and, if he raised his head a bit, Fred, also asleep.

'I'm glad you all managed to get out on time,' Harry said, turning back to Hermione, who surely hasn't been under a falling ceiling, or her injuries would have been more serious. She looked a bit uncomfortable though. 'You were out as well, right? Although I remember you being right next to me,' he added slowly.

'Yeah, I was under the falling ceiling,' she admitted. 'But I was protected as well, by Raven,' she added somewhat reluctantly. Harry blinked at her.

'But he-' he stopped and glanced at Elliot and Leo, who were silent until now. 'I saw Raven hit by a killing curse,' he said, slowly and clearly. 'Did I hit my head harder than I thought? Was that a dream?'

'You did hit your head pretty hard,' Hermione admitted. 'You have a mild concussion, so you should be very careful. But it wasn't a dream, I also saw Raven get killed by Bellatrix,' she added very quietly. She was obviously reluctant to say anything else and she glanced at the two exchange students. Since when was Hermione keeping their secrets?

'It takes more than a killing curse to get rid of a Baskerville,' Leo said with a smirk. 'But do keep that a secret from everybody else. We're going to try to persuade everybody that the crazed woman missed and Raven collapsed from exhaustion,' he added. Harry stared at him for a moment, wondering if his brain was damaged because it seemed difficult to process the new information.

'So Raven and Hatter are alright,' he amended.

'Define alright,' Leo said with a sigh. 'Hatter still hasn't woken up, but it hasn't been 24 hours since that fiasco in the Ministry, so I suppose that he'll be as good as he can be, under the circumstances. Raven is going to be fine, of course, although he is pretty exhausted and rather beaten up from what we could see.'

'What about the members of the Order? And the Deatheaters?' Harry asked.

With a sigh, Hermione told him the whole story, from her point of view. Raven had protected her from the ceiling, but had lost consciousness in the process. When she had managed to get him off her, after the ceiling stopped falling, and get up, Dumbledore already had been working on immobilising all the Deatheaters and Hatter was collapsed next to Bellatrix's beheaded body. Help had arrived quickly, directed by Mr Weasley.

'Then somehow Raven was up and arguing with Dumbledore that Hatter was to be taken to Hogwarts, even though he could barely stand,' Hermione said and paused. 'Eventually, Dumbledore conceded and sent a Patronus to McGonagall, telling her to take down the anti-apparition wards. As soon as the wards were down, Raven and Hatter disappeared in a black whirlwind, leaving behind a couple of black feathers. I haven't seen them since,' she added. Harry glanced at Elliot and Leo, wondering if they would explain that as well or if his luck for getting the truth was through.

'The way Raven can travel is much smoother than Apparition. Or so we have heard,' Elliot explained for Harry's benefit. 'It would have been too risky to Apparate in Hatter's fragile state,' he added, sounding worried about the man. Harry thought about Raven and black feathers for a moment, remembering the creature that appeared behind the man.

'This thing that appeared behind Raven, when he was, uh, sending Voldemort to hell,' Harry muttered, trailing off uncertainly. 'What was that?'

'Raven,' Leo replied simply, his tone somewhat cold. Harry felt too tired to try and understand what that meant. 'You should forget about it, Harry, you will never see it again if you're lucky,' he added seriously, in a warmer tone. So they were back to secrets, he thought with some disappointment, closing his eyes.

'Oz isn't here?' he asked, wondering why the two least friendly exchange students were here, rather than Oz and Alice, who, as obnoxious as she was, liked Hermione ever since the girl had showed her the animation charms. Then of course, he reminded himself, Elliot would want to spend time with Hermione, Harry's presence was just accidental.

Silence followed his statement and he opened his eyes to see Leo and Elliot exchange looks. Was something wrong with Oz? But Oz wasn't there in the Ministry, was he? No, Harry clearly remembered Oz playing chess with Elliot when they sneaked out.

'Oz very nearly lost everything once,' Leo said quietly. 'His friends, his family, his life, everything: because, for a moment, he lost the faith in himself. Being doubted by others hurts him more than he would like to acknowledge,' he added. He didn't need to say who doubted Oz and made him feel bad and Harry felt horrible. Of course, he couldn't have known about the boy's past, but he still regretted mistrusting him, now more than ever.

'Besides, he's upset that he gave you the information that led, albeit a bit indirectly, to you being hurt,' Elliot added dryly, as though trying to make Harry forget Leo's statement. 'He kept saying that if we didn't help you, you wouldn't have gone and wouldn't have gotten hurt. Not to mention that Raven and Hatter got seriously hurt,' he added and again Harry felt that there was something more to the problem. Were they lying when they said that Raven and Hatter would be alright?

'What? It's not his fault that the Deatheaters arrived,' Harry protested. Elliot shrugged and said that Oz liked to blame himself sometimes. Before Harry could say anything more, a groan on his left made him turn to see Ron waking up. Harry grinned.

'Harry?' Ron mumbled, rubbing his eyes. 'You're awake, that's so good,' he added, sitting up excitedly. Harry echoed his words, happy to see that his best friend was really alright. 'See, Hermione, I told you-' he added and trailed off abruptly with an irritated frown, looking past Harry and probably noticing who was sitting next to Hermione. Harry glanced at Elliot, in time to see him wince.

'That's my cue to leave,' the blond said tonelessly, standing up from the bed and straightening his uniform, before turning to Hermione who, much to Harry's surprise, also got up.

'I'll go with you, um, to let Harry and Ron catch up,' she said in a rush, blushing. Harry noticed the tiny smirk on Leo's face. He suddenly remembered that Hermione did seem to be keeping the secrets of the islanders, just moments ago when they were talking. The feeling of anxiety overcame Harry for a moment as he wondered if Hermione has maybe made her mind up and maybe she would really choose Elliot over Ron. Of course, Ron has never really said that there might be a choice like that, but Harry trusted Hermione to be smart enough to see through Ron's childish irritation at the islander. Besides, didn't Hermione only go out with Krum last year to annoy Ron?

'Would you like to have a walk by the lake?' Elliot asked Hermione in a tone that was almost formal, even though his smile belied it. Hermione said, smiling, that she would and Harry glanced back at Ron's unhappy expression as Hermione and Elliot turned to walk around the bed and leave. He saw Ron open his mouth and he wished there was anything he could say to stop his friend from talking, because he had a feeling Ron would say something wrong.

'Now that you got rid of Voldemort, you will be leaving, right?' Ron asked, not even trying to hide his enmity, and Harry turned to look at Leo, at whom Ron was also looking. The dark-haired exchange student smiled slightly. Looking past Leo, Harry could see that Elliot and Hermione stopped and turned, listening to the conversation.

'Yes,' Leo said. 'We will be leaving at the end of the year and you will never see us again,' he amended, sounding rather happy about the fact. Harry wondered if it had been so bad for them at Hogwarts. It hurt a bit to think that.

'Good,' Ron said coldly, sounding as though he wanted to say "leave now and never come back". Leo didn't seem affected by his dislike and neither did Elliot, but an expression of sadness flickered across Hermione's face.

'Rest well, Harry, Ron,' Leo said, jumping off the bed lightly with a small smile still on his lips. He turned around and left, following Elliot and Hermione out of the hospital wing.

'Why is she leaving with them?' Ron asked unhappily when the trio was too far away to hear him. Harry almost gasped, thinking that Ron meant Hermione leaving forever. However, if that was the case, Harry was sure that Ron would have more to say.

'Maybe she likes that guy,' he said quietly. Ron grumbled something about hoping that Elliot would end up like Victor Krum: forgotten. Harry hoped so as well.


	22. Departures

**Last chapter!**

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**Ch. 22: Departures**

Leo returned to their private rooms without Elliot, not that Oz was very surprised. He barely glanced at the Baskerville, not wanting to look away from the doors to Gilbert's and Break's rooms, as though he expected them to open.

'Is Gilbert still sulking?' Leo asked, sitting next to Oz. Gilbert hadn't liked his task, Oz could tell, and he was using his injuries as an excuse to not have to meet anybody.

Last night, Gilbert had sent Voldemort into Abyss. That thought bothered Oz. Last night, after Gilbert and Break have been taken care of and they could all go to sleep, Oz had woken up screaming and sweating because he had dreamt about the chains dragging him down. Alice had tip toed into his room moments later and wordlessly went to sleep next to him in the bed.

'I suppose,' Oz muttered. 'I wouldn't have thought that this would affect him that much,' he added. He wondered what Gilbert's reaction would have been if he had become Glen and had to send Vincent into the Abyss. Then again, it wouldn't have been the same Gilbert, who would be killing his brother.

'Let's give him until Break wakes up and then we sent Elliot to scold him,' Leo suggested, smirking. Oz laughed shortly, even as bringing up Break made him think to the fragile man in the other room.

Break, using the power of Mad Hatter, had shattered the door to the Abyss in the Ministry, which was really good because they couldn't have left it open. However, that meant that he had used an awful lot of Mad Hatter's power and that was never healthy. He had collapsed afterwards and had yet to wake up since. At least he stopped coughing, Oz thought, remembering Reim's words earlier during the day. The Pandora agent assured Oz and the rest that, while worrying, it was absolutely normal for Break to be in such a state due to using his Chain.

Reim was taking care of both men and was the only person with whom Gilbert had talked until now. Oz strongly suspected that it was only because Reim had to report to Pandora, which the man was currently doing, locked up in his room ever since his shadow had asked, in Sharon's voice, to report.

'Harry Potter woke up,' Leo said tonelessly. Oz ignored the words. 'It seemed like there has been no permanent damage to any of the Gryffindor students, so you can stop beating yourself up for agreeing to Break's plan,' Leo added, making Oz huff in annoyance.

'We both know that Break would have made it happen one way or another,' he said, grudgingly admitting the truth. 'I knew that Break and Gilbert would do everything to not let those kids get hurt,' he added. Of course, the ceiling accidentally crashing as a part of Mad Hatter's madness didn't help much the keeping-out-of-harm plan. Not that the wizards needed to know the cause to the sudden collapse of the ceiling. In the same swipe, Mad Hatter got rid of the Chains present in the room and that was the official version, to which they were going to stick.

'Yeah, I heard that Gilbert went out of his way to make sure that Elliot's Gryffindor sweetheart comes to no harm as well,' Leo commented and summarised part of Hermione's recount of the events. 'Elliot owes him now, because I don't think that she would have survived pieces of concrete or stones on her head,' he added.

At Oz's request, Leo told him everything that he and Elliot have heard from Hermione about the happenings in the Ministry of Magic. He even included Hermione's version of Raven sending Voldemort to the Abyss. When he was done, Reim opened the door to his room and smiled at them.

'We all got commended on a job well done,' he announced with some irony. 'Sharon said that Pandora wants that we stay at Hogwarts until the end of the school year, to not "raise suspicions", as they put it,' he added. Oz shook his head. What did those people think? There was probably not a single suspicion that they haven't already raised and it was going to be a pain to find cover stories for all them.

'So that's it?' he asked. 'There will be no more contacts between the Four Great Dukedoms and the wizarding society?'

'They want to send in a spy,' Reim admitted. 'Upon our arrival, we are supposed to relay all the information we have gathered and they will try to make somebody pass for a regular wizard so that they can survey the Chain situation.'

'Good riddance,' Leo muttered darkly. Reim told them to go and enjoy the nice weather, while he goes to check on Break. Seeing no other option, Oz and Leo left.

The weather was really nice. The sun was shining and, despite the rather late hour, it was still quite warm. They quickly found Alice, who was making flowers dance around her in the air. It reminded Oz a bit too much of his time in the Abyss to truly enjoy it, but he didn't say anything. Together, they went towards the lake, where Elliot and Hermione have already been disturbed by Ginny and George and so they decided to go to Elliot's rescue.

The following day, Elliot and Gilbert had a shouting match about one thing or another and afterwards Gilbert was more or less back to his normal self. He flat out refused to talk about the Ministry or about the topic of his argument with Elliot, but he didn't hide in his room anymore. Later that day, Break woke up and started whining about being bedridden, but both Reim and Gilbert shouted him into submission, which was amusing to watch. If Oz didn't know better, he would have thought that they were back in Pandora.

Fred, Ron and Harry were released to from the watchful eye of Madam Pomfrey two days later. The twins threw a party in the Gryffindor tower and invited Oz and his friends as well, saying that, just because nobody else was celebrating Voldemort's demise, it didn't mean they couldn't. It was true that there was no euphoria after Voldemort's death, since not a lot of people knew and believed that he had been back. Nevertheless, the air was somehow lighter anyway and the teachers were definitely in better moods.

Rounding up the remaining Deatheaters didn't take too long and, although nobody believed that Voldemort had been in the Ministry, they were all nicely tucked away in Azkaban. An investigation around the door of Abyss, which the wizards called "the veil", showed that the two people working on researching it were in fact Deatheaters. It was enough of explanation for Pandora as to the source of the Chains in Great Britain and the investigation was going to be closed as soon as possible, pending only their reports.

Oz didn't feel like writing his report. He and the other three had decided that they had worked for Pandora enough and they treated the remaining month of school as holidays, since they no longer needed to pretend they were eagerly studying. They outright ignored some subjects, like Transfiguration, only attending to those lessons that they enjoyed. Against all odds, one of the latter was Defence against the Dark Arts. Cain Kruspe went out of his way to teach them about countering wizards, should they ever encounter them again.

Instead of doing homework, Oz, Alice, Leo and Elliot spend loads of time in the sun, fully profiting from the freedom that being away from home and Pandora offered. They talked a lot about the future, when they were sure that nobody could hear and they chatted about small things when their Gryffindor friends were around.

Dumbledore informed Reim that he did not wish for Core of Magic to be taught in Hogwarts, something that Reim was extremely grateful for. Neither he nor Pandora had any intentions of continuing teaching in the following years and Dumbledore's decision made it all the easier: they didn't even need an excuse. However, the headmaster of Hogwarts made it clear that any child, wishing to follow the school's curriculum and willing to accept all the school rules, was welcomed. Gracious as the offer was, Oz knew that Pandora saw it only as a potential door into the wizarding society.

})i({

They decided to not stay for the final feast, because of Dumbledore's attitude. The headmaster was sour about having to thank two "cold-blooded murderers" for getting rid of his nemesis. Besides, they wished to be on their way as soon as possible and leaving before the feast meant that they could be home one day earlier.

Packed and ready to leave, Oz wandered off to find Harry Potter. What Elliot and Leo had told Harry about Oz was true, but he had decided to overlook it in favour of keeping good memories from Hogwarts. Thankfully, Harry never mentioned their little disagreement either.

He found Harry sitting by the lake, alone, and he went to sit next to the boy, grateful that they would have that moment of peace. Not that he had anything important to say. After all he couldn't admit that Harry had indeed been treated as a bait for Voldemort and that it was a part of the plan from the beginning that Harry gets ambushed in the Ministry. He didn't think that Harry would appreciate to hear that.

'Will you miss it?' Harry asked as soon as Oz sat down. 'The school I mean. I've been thinking about how I will feel in two years, when I leave here for the last time. I'll miss it terribly,' he added. 'This place is like a home to me.'

'It is not for me,' Oz pointed out. It has never been and will never be, he amended. 'I don't think that I will miss it a lot, but I'm happy to have come here,' he answered truthfully, because he felt that Harry deserved honesty. 'But shouldn't you be looking forward to staying with your godfather?' he asked, remembering that Sirius Black has been pardoned and could now officially take his place in the society. Harry beamed at him.

'It will be so awesome,' he said enthusiastically. 'Ron, Fred and George are also looking forward, because Sirius promised that they can come. They can't wait to escape from the parental control at home,' he laughed. Oz laughed as well, although when Harry added that it would have been cool if Oz could join, he sobered up. A small part of him wished that he could witness the chaos that would ensue.

'What will you do now?' Harry asked after a moment of silence. Oz shrugged, calling a smile back to his face.

'Same thing as I did before. I will keep working for Pandora, like a good heir of the Duke family I am, I will keep fooling around with Alice and maybe, if Elliot helps, we can manage to convince Leo to join us,' he replied in a light tone. He fully expected Leo to go back to "Glen mode" as soon as they leave, so the last part didn't seem that realistic. Even Elliot doing anything silly didn't seem probable, considering that he was already coming back to the "responsible Duke mode". Maybe Oz would miss Hogwarts more than he thought he would, after all. 'I'll go back to harassing G-, uh, Raven,' he added, knowing that this would not change.

'So he has a name,' Harry noted, making Oz laugh.

'Of course he has a name, but I'm not telling you,' he replied. He didn't add that Hatter had a name as well that this would remain a secret as well. 'It's not my secret to share and, besides, he deserves the name he used here, so it's alright.'

'What name do you deserve?' Harry asked and all trace of good humour was gone from Oz immediately. Harry probably assumed, correctly, that Raven took the name of the apparition that sent Voldemort to the Abyss. He must have assumed that they all had this kind of apparitions and he wasn't all that far off mark.

'Just Oz,' he muttered, the hurtful words echoing in his head. Harry couldn't know what the problem with that question was, so he forced a smile onto his face and turned back to the Gryffindor. 'I would have thought we shared enough secrets with you and you'd let the rest slide. I'd like to remember you as a friend, not an interrogator.'

'You make it sound like we will never meet again,' Harry muttered and Oz smiled at him kindly, understanding the sentiment even if he didn't feel it. He had known from the very beginning that this was a temporary situation so he was prepared for this. Besides, having spent time waiting for his own life to run its course as the seal progressed, and knowing Break, taught him to enjoy the moment.

'We most probably will never meet,' he said truthfully. There was no point in giving Harry fake hope. 'But you should not see it as a bad thing, because we enjoyed the time we have spent together. "Grief not, rather find, strength in what remains behind",' he quoted his favourite poet. Well, really the only one he knew and only because Sharon was a fan.

'What remains behind?' Harry asked. It was soon time for the feast and their departure, so Oz got up and pulled Harry up as well.

'Memories,' Oz replied, as though it was obvious. 'Memories that you make and feelings that people share with you make you yourself, after all. In times of doubt, if you can remember the people that are important,' he trailed off, not wanting to think about that. Harry looked at him questioningly, but didn't say anything, for which Oz was grateful.

'If, in exchange for memories I have to give up Hermione, then I'm not sure it's a fair deal,' Harry muttered finally, looking away. Oz looked at him for a moment, before realising that Hermione must have told him about Elliot's proposition and the ramifications that went with. Did she tell him what her choice was? Oz was itching to know.

As they made their way towards the castle in silence, Oz saw Elliot and Hermione, standing next to the carriage that would take the islanders home. They haven't noticed them yet, Oz was sure, because they both looked comfortably relaxed. Hermione was saying something, touching her tie and smiling. Elliot replied with a smile and leaned to kiss her.

Ah, the teasing the Nightray would have to endure from Oz for this scene. The very thought made Oz grin internally. He noticed Harry also looking at the two, with a sad expression.

'Maybe it's their farewell,' Oz said, trying to be encouraging. Harry said that he hoped it was and Oz didn't agree so he kept quiet. There was no point in arguing over something neither of them had any influence on.

By the time Oz and Harry reached Elliot and Hermione, the latter two have finished their good byes and stood a bit further apart, awkwardly trying to look anywhere but at each other. Oz smiled at them, knowing that Harry didn't. Elliot glared, which was his way of friendly acknowledging Oz, while Hermione smiled slightly. From up close, Oz could see the Nightray emblem pinned to her tie and his eyes widened.

When Gilbert joined them, moments later, his gaze lingered on the emblem for a couple of seconds, before he looked at both Hermione and Elliot carefully. Oz thought he could see him smile slightly at his younger brother, but he couldn't be sure and Gilbert quickly got into the carriage without a word.

As Oz apologised to Hermione and Harry, for Raven's rude behaviour, he could feel the glare from inside the carriage. It only made him grin.

Break and Reim came up to them soon after and Reim whispered something to Break. Before going into the carriage, the latter grinned in the general direction of Hermione and Elliot, who were both becoming increasingly uncomfortable. Yes Elliot, you're that easy to read, Oz thought, grinning and waving at the twins, Ron, Ginny, Leo and Alice, making their way across the lawn. Further away, he could see students lurking in the windows, watching them go. He laughed at their behaviour.

'I was almost wondering if you would show up,' Oz said when the Gryffindors reached them. Ron stopped as close to Hermione as he possibly could and, when she didn't step away, he grinned. He seemed to think that he was winning. Oz could see Harry avoid Ron's gaze and he wondered if Harry and Hermione would make a secret out of her decision.

'So, if you guys ever come in the neighbourhood,' Fred said with a grin and they all knew that it was just empty words. When George finished his sentence, saying that they should stop by to say "hi", Oz nodded.

'We will do that,' he assured them. He exchanged hugs with all the Gryffindors and so did the other three, except for Elliot, who didn't even try to approach Ron but got a kiss from Hermione instead, much to Ron's obvious displeasure. The twins whistled and laughed, especially when Elliot and Hermione blushed.

Without a word, Elliot got into the carriage, followed by Leo and Alice. Oz smiled at the Gryffindors one last time and got into the carriage himself. It was the same carriage in which they have arrived ten months ago. It had spacious and comfortable inside that easily fitted the seven of them. Break knocked on the wall and the carriage moved.

'Finally,' Leo muttered in the voice of Glen, while Oz leaned against the window, waving at the Gryffindors. As they slowly disappeared from his view, Oz wondered if he would really never see them. Break unwrapped a lollipop and put it in his mouth, mumbling unclearly about well-deserved holidays. Reim muttered "paperwork" in reply, making both Break and Gilbert grumble unhappily.

'So is she coming?' Alice asked Elliot, but the Duke of Nightray merely smiled.

**The End**

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**Thank you all for reading. I hope you had fun! Double thanks to those who took their time to review.**

**If you've been lurking around, don't be shy and comment now! I really love to see my stories receive attention, be it favs or comments.**

**I'll take a break from writing now, but if that's my first story you're reading, check out my profile. I have one more story about Pandora Hearts, loads of Harry Potter and Black Butler and even some No. 6 and FFVII stories!**

**One day, maybe I'll be back with something new =)**


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